Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon Explain What Drew Them to Join True Crime Thriller Boston Strangler

Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon will star as Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole, respectively, in the upcoming true crime thriller Boston Strangler that was written and directed by Matt Ruskin. Set in the 1960s, the series tells the tale of two reporters for Record-American newspapers who were tasked to investigate the Boston Strangler murders. The pair sits down with Collider to discuss what drew them to be a part of the series

Both Knightley and Coon shared why they decided to partake in the series. For Knightly it was director Matt Ruskin’s script, she’s familiar with Boston Strangler and upon reading how Matt told the story, the project was sold to her.

“I had heard of the Boston Strangler, but I really didn’t know anything about it, so I really came to it from Matt’s wonderful script. I just thought it was a really interesting way of telling the story of a serial killer, but through the point-of-view of these two female journalists. And the fact that you’ve got a case where most people didn’t know that it was two women who broke the story, that they’ve largely been erased from the history of this case, I thought was really interesting.”

Coon agreed and she added that it was also Matt Ruskin’s enthralling and heartwarming storytelling skills that made her do it.

“Yes, that was the most shocking part of it for me, that these women were so integral to breaking the case and to forcing the police departments to share information, and their names are never mentioned in association with it. That was really shocking to me. And then, their stories of how they became journalists, as individuals, they were very compelling, very moving stories that certainly echoed the lives of the women in my world who grew up in the Midwest.”

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The Story of Boston Strangler Moved Carrie Coon

Coon also shares that for her, the project is a little too personal. It just hits home since close family members had similar situations to her character.

“My mother was a nurse. One of my grandmothers was a teacher, and the other was a homemaker. Those were the opportunities available to women, aside from secretary. So, Jean’s fight to become a journalist at all was very moving to me. And then, of course, I had seen Crown Heights, which Matt had made, and I think of him as a really, deeply moral filmmaker, and I knew that his interest in this story was feminist. He was really interested in revealing that those women had been erased from the story. And of course, I knew Keira was involved, as well, and I was really excited to get the opportunity to work with her.”

Boston Strangler starts streaming on Hulua March 17.