Ben Affleck's Arizona

Actor turned filmmaker Ben Affleck is in talks to direct Arizona for Miramax. The fact-based drama is about the 1976 car bomb death of Don Bolles, a reporter who was investigating the Mob's infiltration of the Arizona state government. The incident sparked an investigation called The Arizona Project, headed up by the Investigative Reporters and Editors, a group Bolles co-founded. Variety reports that Miramax has been unsuccessful in striking a deal with the IRE, which means the resulting film would have to be "fact-based account" rather than the subjective story of the people involved (read: more stale).

As much as I want to see Ben Affleck direct again, this story doesn't sound nearly as interesting as The Town, the big screen adaptation of Chuck Hogan novel The Prince of Thieves which was announced in September. I think that project more appeals to me because it's another Boston based film, and Affleck clearly knows the area. I really loved what he accomplished with Gone Baby Gone. The Town is a story about a career thief who falls in love with the manager of a bank he robbed. I'm not sure the status of that project, but I'm hoping it hasn't yet fallen into development heck. Read more about The Town here.