Renner Joins Affleck's Gang

Yesterday I wrote a story about Ben Affleck's next directorial effort "The Town" for Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures. Today comes news via THR that The Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner is in final negotiations to star alongside Affleck, Jon Hamm and Rebecca Hall in the adaptation of the Chuck Hogan novel "Prince of Theives." For the full details read more below...

Jeremey Renner would play one of the three blue-collar Irish-American gang members from Charlestown that works and is friends with Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck). THR does not reveal which character Renner would play only calls him the doomed best friend, but based off his recent success with The Hurt Locker, Renner seems most fit for the role of Jem. Jem is a hard-drinking, hard-drugging, trigger-happy wild boy that Renner would fit in perfectly as.

The original novel by Chuck Hogan followed four masked thieves and friends from the tough streets of Charlestown Massachusetts who decide to rob a Boston bank at gunpoint. The group takes the Holding bank manager Claire Keesey hostage and cleans out the entire vault. One of the gunmen, Doug MacRay, didn't plan on falling hard for Claire. The career thieve decides to track her down without his mask & gun and their mutual attraction becomes undeniable. With a tenacious FBI agent following his every move Doug imagines a life away from his gritty, dangerous work. A life centered around Claire. But before that can happen, Doug and his crew learn that there may be a way to rob Boston's venerable baseball stadium, Fenway Park. Risky yet utterly irresistible, it would be the perfect heist to end his criminal career and begin a new life. But, as it turns out, pursuing Claire may be the most dangerous act of all.

Renner is a perfect addition to the already talented cast and should make for some powerful scenes shared with Affleck. "The Town" is set to start shooting in September in Boston with Matt Reilly and Jesse Ehrman overseeing for Warners. More news on "The Town" as it develops....

What say you? Does the cast of The Town have your interests perked for Affleck's next directorial effort? Strikeback...