Between June 1962 and January 1964, more than a dozen single women, ages 19 to 85, were killed, all by strangulation, in the Boston area.
Confessing to the crimes in early 1965 was the 33-year-old maintenance worker, father of two, Albert deSalvo, already in prison for rape and then killed in 1973 in prison.
A story still full of mysteries (many doubt it was he who committed all the crimes) and silences, such as the fact that two courageous journalists, Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole, publicly linked several murders and followed the trail of the serial killer.
It is the perspective that Matt Ruskin explores in The Boston Strangler, the noir starring Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon, debuting March 17 on Star within Disney+.
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I discovered the story of the Boston Strangler through Matt's wonderful script – explains Keira Knightley in the international streaming press conference -.
I found it very interesting to be able to tell it from the point of view of these two journalists.
Also because there are many who don't know how the story came about thanks to them.
It's as if they've been erased from history." In the film (which has the same title as the 1968 cult film starring Tony Curtis in the role of the serial killer) we follow Loretta McLaughlin (Knightley), a reporter for the Record-American, where she is relegated in pieces on the wives of politicians or on the management of the house.After the discovery of the bodies of three elderly women in Boston, he decides to investigate and discovers the connection between the crimes, all committed through strangulation with a stocking.
The director, Jack MacLaine (Chris Cooper), initially skeptical, despite threats from the authorities, decides to support her alongside a more experienced colleague, Jean Cole (Coon).
The two women, although different in their approach to work, form a relentless team, capable of not being stopped either by the dominant male chauvinism in society or by ostracism from the police, with a few exceptions such as homicide detective Jim Conley (Alessandro Nivola).
The two reporters thus arrive at both DeSalvo and other possible perpetrators of the crimes.
"Being from Boston, I knew about the strangler, but I didn't know the case thoroughly," explains director Matt Ruskin, former author of Courage to fight, on the true story of Colin Warner: falsely accused and convicted of a crime not committed -.
Only a few years ago I started digging and I realized what a story full of twists and turns, which also deeply reflected the era.
Then when I found out about the existence of Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole I realized that focusing on them would be a very engaging way to revisit the facts". There was "little information about Jean and Loretta", which disappeared in 2015 and 2018 but "I was able to contact their families.
The more they told me the more my admiration for both grew". Carrie Coon was also deeply impressed by Jean and Loretta's determination to become journalists: "I grew up in the Midwest: my mother was a nurse, one of my grandmothers a teacher and the other a housewife.
Those were the opportunities women had at that time apart from being secretaries.
Jean and Loretta have struggled throughout to establish themselves". For Keira Knightley "the film is a sort of love song dedicated to the investigative journalism of female reporters.
It highlights how important it is to have women in positions of power also in reporting the facts.
It was Loretta and Jean who realized how important it was to get the story out to the public to make Boston safer.
It was a case that the male establishment had hitherto largely overlooked.
It's wonderful to have a story that highlights how having so many talented female journalists is also good for the safety of our communities." Keira Knightley "found Loretta's persistence inspiring.
All that she faces,