The cast of Patriots' Day is coming together. Its most recent addition is Academy Award and Golden Globe winner J.K. Simmons.
On Feb. 25, The Hollywood Reporter noted that Simmons will join the cast of the upcoming film, which centers around the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. He will play Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese, the officer who fought directly with the two bombers prior to their arrest. Simmons will star alongside Mark Wahlberg.
The film's subject is one that is squarely within Wahlberg's wheelhouse, since he's a native of Boston and co-starred in the Beantown-set biopic The Fighter (2010).
The film will be directed by Peter Berg, who directed Wahlberg in Lone Survivor.
“Beyond his considerable talents, J.K. Simmons is a person who respects the solemn trust that these real-life heroes are putting in our hands... This is an actor who will represent the role in the best way possible," Berg said of Simmons.
Interestingly, Patriots' Day isn't the only film in the works surrounding the 2013 bombing. Variety reported that fellow Boston native Casey Affleck, whose Boston-set creds include honing his chops alongside big brother Ben in Good Will Hunting, is set to star in and produce a docudrama based on the book Boston Strong by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge.