After Ben Affleck won the Best Picture Oscar for Argo, Hollywood was buzzing about what the actor-turned-director would choose as his next directorial project. It didn’t take him long, as Affleck opted to tackle an adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s Prohibition-era crime thriller Live by Night as his next movie, but actually making the film proved more difficult. First he pushed back production when he was offered the chance to work with David Fincher on Gone Girl, then he was forced to push filmmaking back even further when Warner Bros. and Zack Snyder came a-calling about playing Batman—an offer that was impossible to refuse. So Affleck then focused on getting into shape and settling in for the long shoot of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, while we continued to wonder when he might finally get around to directing again.

That happened last fall, as cameras began rolling on Live by Night, and now as production is wrapping up, Affleck has shared a behind-the-scenes image from the shoot revealing himself and cinematographer Robert Richardson (Oscar-nominated for his work on The Hateful Eight) conversing in between takes. As you can see, Affleck’s donning an adorable 1920s cap as the lead character in the picture, which begins in Boston and follows the rise of one man from petty thief to the Gulf Coast’s most successful rum runner.


By working with Richardson, Affleck is continuing his run of collaborating with incredible cinematographers, following John Toll on Gone Baby GoneRobert Elswit on The Town, and Rodrigo Prieto on Argo. And while we have a bit to wait as Warner Bros. currently has the film slated for release sometime in 2017, I’m just happy this film didn’t fall off of Affleck’s docket entirely.

Take a look at the set photo below. Affleck wrote, produced, directed, and stars in Live by Night alongside Zoe Saldana, Elle Fanning, Sienna Miller, Chris Messina, Chris Cooper, Scott Eastwood, and Brendan Gleeson.

https://twitter.com/BenAffleck/status/702213030789120004
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Image via Warner Bros.