Everybody wanted to cut it. BOSTON - An infamous criminal, who claims he's robbed more than 100 banks, was arrested in an attempted heist in the Back Bay. Al Pacinos Sonny in Dog Day Afternoon wants enough money to give a better life to his wives. Welliver: It [was] like doing photo shoots in front of Graceland with Elvis when Elvis was still alive. And hes like, Wheres that from? And shes like, Oh, he was here. Carter: They were looking at Chris Pine in the very beginning, because of course Star Trek had just come out. But mostly a Boston accent depends on your socioeconomic status, by and large. My father insisted that I go over. The FBI reports agents today arrested Anthony M. Hamilton, 24, of Charlestown, on charges he held up a Malden Citizens Bank branch in December, then shot his way out of a locked vestibule. And in an exciting way. Ill do that., My place in Connecticut is only three hours from Boston, so I just, on a whim, jumped in the car, drove up to Boston, went to the production office and walked in, and David Crockett, one of the producers, and Chay were like, Hey, what are you doing? And I said to Chay, Oh, Im Detective such and such. And she was like, You fucker. I said, Is he here? And she said, Yeah, hes down doing auditions downstairs., I kind of slipped in and waited in line and then said to the production assistant, Dont say my name. Chuck Hogans novel Prince of Thieves opens with a toast: To Charlestown, our one square mile of brick and cobblestone. Doug MacRay ( Ben Affleck) is not cut from the same cloth as his fellow thieves. And I was like, Who the hell is this guy? It was taking a period of time that had passed and pretending it was still a reality. Stockard: Ben and I went and spent a day with this FBI task force. Two armored car guards were shot to death in New Hampshire in 1994 during one of the robberies. I lived in South Boston, Roslindale. Witt: Its not like New York or Los Angeles where you have wider streets. Hogan: Adrian really thought in more operatic terms, and he really wanted to do the book. The most notorious took place outside the NFS Savings Bank in Hudson, N.Y., on Aug. 25, 1994, when an armored car pulled up shortly after 9 a.m. The sentence subtly shapes the viewers response to the daytime bank heist thatstarts the film. By the way? But it was very real. But they liked it and they wanted to meet with me, and I was like, of course. I was willing to meet with anyone who was interested in hiring me as a director. So if you give somebody a space, all they want to do is figure out how to do a heist in there. He also made sure to populate the movie with people who didnt have to fake their Boston accents. Thousands. Theyre stopping at an exactly certain point and if they go too far, peoples lives are at stakeits a very serious thing. There was a script written. And Ben Affleck was incredibly famous already. He looks at them. Two guards -- Lawrence Johnson, 57, and Ronald Normandeau, 52 -- were shot to death while delivering money to the bank for North East Armored Transport Inc. of Manchester, N.H. Funny enough, I have shot in Boston twice since then. And I remember immediately getting on Google Maps and looking at the North End, because they had described a robbery that had taken place [there], and being like, They robbed this thing here, and they had to get to that bridge there. So we basically mapped out where this little route was. Bill Simmons saysthere were a lot of Boston ladies like Kris in real life. It seems likely that Lively had met a few. Citizens Bank, located at 315 Hanover St., was robbed at 9:10 a.m. and a Santander Bank at 287 Hanover St., was robbed a mere 4 minutes later. If they get popped, they do the time. CONCORD, N.H. -- A friend of two accused bank robbers testified yesterday as a prosection witness about a car found burning in Revere, the night of a 1994 robbery. Stockard: The movie that we thought about was [Michael Manns] Heat. Every take had the same amount of tension and edge but it was just all over the place. WebThe crew consisted of Doug MacRay, Jem Coughlin, Desmond Elden, and Albert MacGloan, four veteran Charlestown bank and armored car robbers. I knew it was one scene and it was gonna be an important scene: [Dougs] relationship with his father. September 2009. When he took over the project Fatal Attractions Adrian Lyne was originally down to direct local boy Affleck decided he wanted to make this as much of a Boston filmas he possibly could. He didnt want to option it himself, so they set him up with [producer] Graham King, who got the option. . From 1874 to 1921 it is estimated that Starr robbed over 21 banks, stealing $60,000 in cash. Director: Ben Affleck. Solemn now: To The Town. He had the beginnings of the accent, clearly he had the ability to do ita bad Boston accent would ruin that part. Craig: Adrian wanted 90 shooting days and $90 [million] to do it. And Blake spent some time with her. I wrote the book, then I went away for a while, then I worked on the script for a year, then I went away for a while, then other people wrote the script. Cooper: It was kind of this crisp evening. He contributed to Altvariety, Chiseler, Smashpipe, and other magazines. WebThe acquaintance, Richard Floyd McCoy, Jr., was a Vietnam veteran, a helicopter pilot, and an avid and capable skydiver. Its an action movie where you get to root for the bad guys. Affleck: I had great stunt drivers. Tyre marks matched those found in Houston, and five men were eventually convicted. After a seven-day trial, they were convicted on 54 of 55 counts of robbery, including one which resulted in the death of two armored car guards. It eventually just blew up. And obviously it was in Bostonthat I was comfortable with. But the Associated Press, which broke the Coyman story, reported Burke is also from Charlestown and was sent to prison in 1988 for six bank robberies in Florida. There are three tiers of cells. He was quite clear. This makes it a mini-epic. FINDLAY, Ohio (WTVG) - Authorities arrested a man in Findlay Monday on bank robbery charges. Craig: I was a crime writer already. The crew at the center of The Town resembles a gang of five masked robbers who pulled holdups from 1990 to 1995. The way John tells the story is, Of course I do two [moves] on him and Ive got him and he cant move, and [Afflecks] like, alright, alright, alright!. Rebecca Hall (Claire): I remember I had to fly to New York to meet Ben because I was based in London at the time, in the middle of this theater tour. 'The Town': Is Charlestown really America's 'bank robbery capital'? Another botched job referred to in the film the one for which Douggies father (Chris Cooper) was sent down for life for killing two guards was also inspired by a notorious bank heist gone wrong. They get their tips and kick up to local crime lord Fergus Fergie Colm, played by veteran character actor Pete Postlethwaite. Affleck also embarked on a series of interviews with locals, including convicted robbers and members of the FBI violent crimes force. And there were probably a couple of guys there who were still robbing banks.. They like walking out with a little bit of hope. Then put it in Connecticut.. 2 hours ago. Hes just great. Thats my quote that you used in the book. I was like, Oh man, whats up? He was excited. It went on to make $154 million (119 million) worldwide. He was the leader that he is. And they led me into this little alleyway. [Chairman] Tom Werners a friend of mine. Yes Charestown, MA is known for Bank robbers. Affleck: Rebecca worked just as hard on the accent. And everyone was like, Ah, you cant, really. Cooper: I dont know Jeremys height, but Ben is a pretty big boy. I was fine with that. The Boston area was prime cinematic crime fields during the early 2000s. Hogan: I was playing on a softball team, and this friend, he works for one of the prisons here and he was walking by someones desk and they had a picture of Ben Affleck on her screen saver. Especially when youre in a park thats not open to the public. Three friends and acquaintances who had lied on the stand before testified against the five, along with four convicted bank robbers from Charlestown. In the 70s, New York was that. And for better or worse, it was also a hit thatin addition to tax incentiveshelped temporarily cement Massachusetts as Hollywood East. They think theres no more serious white people in Charlestown, says local girl Kris (Blake Lively) early in the film. So many broke the code, shattered the code. I remember one day going to set because he and Ben were doing that great scene where it ends up with them having a fight. If possible, its really great to hire people with whom an audience isnt overly familiar, because audiences have developed expectations and kind of anticipate what an actor might do if theyve seen them a bunch. This database contains birth information from several towns included in the Massachusetts (U.S.A.) Town Vital Im mighty proud of where I come from, he says. Hed be happy to settle down with his former hostage, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall). But instead, Affleck went with something more bittersweet. You couldve just called me.. Slaine: Im convinced my hearing is still not the same after that film. Four men in ski masks ambushed and hijacked the Northeast Armored Transport truck Aug. 25, 1994, in a parking lot of a branch of the NFS Savings Bank in Hudson. Hamm: It was impressive. I said, Im so sorry to bother you Mr. Postlethwaite, but Im on the movie, sorry we dont have any scenes together, but Im so excited to be in a movie with you. I gushed for a while, and he just smiled as broad as he could, and hes like, Come on, come on, sit down, have a drink. I was like, Well, its 11 in the morning.. Whats the best way to get there?. So he uses them in that way. Claire represents the real problem at the center of the proceedings. The Town took $23.8 million (18.4 million) at the box office on its opening weekend, from a budget of just $37 million (28 million). So unexpected. He said, Theyre looking for guys like you. And so I went over and I read a few lines, they took my picture. It has ended with the government getting most of the money. Location scouting was uppermost in his mind. I had an interesting moment with him at one point, we were in the car and I said, Whats the deal? And he called me Ty, as all the guys did because they didnt want to say Titus. The first or second take that he did, Jeremy wanted to do it on his own. WebDoug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is an unrepentant criminal, the de facto leader of a group of ruthless bank robbers who pride themselves in stealing what they want and getting out clean. Los Angles police on high alert for grand theft and planned robbery in town. He has that capacity, and I think that makes him a classic American filmmaker. Theyd closed off the street, working on this story that I had cooked up in my bedroom at home. He goes into the family business. Do everything youre supposed to do, they wont be harmed.. Even with the shorter length hes afforded, Affleck tells multiple stories. Just finding a place to park the trucks. In so many ways, the project came along at the exact right time. IS Charlestown MA known for Bank robbers? MacRay is a narcissist who uses Jems sister Krista (Blake Lively) for bathroom quickies, and Claire as a loophole. Needless to say, it really shook me up. For example, with my brother [Casey] in Gone Baby Gone, I thought it really benefited from the fact that he wasnt so well-known. It was kind of a moment for them. He was definitely a bad guy and was going to take as many people with him as he could, but you still kind of went, You know what, this is a kid that came along, and in a different environment he wouldve been a different person but he is a product of all of this dysfunction and horror that hes grown up in. Its brilliant. And I got a call saying that [Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal director] Adrian Lyne had read it and really wanted to do something with it. It all felt sort of very impossible and glamorous. The romance in the middle of the film is only there to delineate the boundaries between heist film and crime procedural. She is the interloping gentry and renovates Dougs headspace. And they were like, Just so you know, weve had some calls and threats of violence. People didnt know what the book was, I think they were expecting something that would really knock Charlestown. Affleck: With Jeremy Renner, somebody said to me, Theres this guy, hes got this movie coming out that you should see, its supposed to be really good. It was actually in the book. Susan Matheson (costume designer): Ben at one point wears a zip-up track jacket that looks like a Bruins jacket. Which was nice. In 1995, The Boston Globe reported that the neighborhood was a community to which more armored car robbers are traced than any other in the country, according to FBI statistics. Hogan recalls reading that and filing it away. The bank robbers step out of their vehicle. So all of a sudden, while theyre getting married, they hear gunshots at Fenway. During the Cold War he had a great joke: The Russians wont invade Boston, theres nowhere to pahk! I thought, Yup, theres a lot of truth to that. That was our greatest hurdle. The gang torches their escape cars and their transfer vehicles. The imitators that his opus spawned, however, couldnt recreate what he managed to. When I saw it, I thought, Its fine. I wound up learning a lot from how Ben did that. They went to jail because there were cracks on the pavement, leaks on the street. Gone Girl we shot a hundred days for a two-hour thriller. I wasnt really in the movie world. NEW YORK -- The mystery began when a Boston ex-con dropped dead on a New York train platform with a backpack stuffed with $180,000. So I leave the movie theater and Im really kind of numb, trying to figure it out. They were all from Charlestown. As for Affleck, the success of The Town helped advance his career as a director. 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