Affleck & Damon producing film about America’s first undercover unit

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are the iconic Hollywood bromance, and we can assume they do everything together, and that includes visiting the occasional water park. On the professional front, the dynamic duo is back at it again and will produce a new movie about America’s first undercover police force, which was started in 19th century Boston.

THR got the scoop that the movie – titled THE SHADOWS – will be also be produced by Jennifer Todd’s Pearl Street Films banner (MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, LIVE BY NIGHT) and is being written by Chris Bremner (BAD BOYS 3), who also pitched the idea to Paramount. Bremner is writing the movie based on a Boston Globe Magazine article titled “Into the Shadows.”

The history of the unit goes like this: In the late 1840s, Boston had a population of around 140,000 people, but the police service, including officers and patrolmen, only hit around 180 men. With the crime rate rapidly rising, the mayor allowed for a special organization known as “The Shadows” to send men to do undercover work with criminal informants. This was a groundbreaking step forward for law enforcement, as undercover officers walked the line between right and wrong as America experience its first real immigration boom.   

There is no word yet on casting or a director yet, and that includes on if this is something Affleck himself would like to direct.

The film sounds like a great idea for a period thriller and illuminates a relatively unknown story of America’s early days. I assumed undercover work was something that started in the last century or so, and probably by some slick, upper-level government organization. But to hear it was by a desperate police force in pre-Civil War America is fascinating, and sounds like some Affleck would be perfect to direct. At the very least, part of me really wants to see Damon and Affleck team-up in front of the screen as two of America’s first undercover officers. Do you think they would have to use thick GOOD WILL HUNTING accents for a movie this far in the past?