The Boston Marathon bombing drama has found a director and a studio, but it’s lost its star.  Variety reports that 20th Century Fox has acquired Boston Strong, which is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge, with Safe House director Daniel Espinosa in talks to take the helm.  Casey Affleck was previously attached to star when it was looking for a studio home, but his deal eventually fell apart.  The Fighter scribes Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy penned the script, which follows the massive manhunt for the two men responsible for the tragic Boston bombing in 2013.  More after the jump.

News of these developments for Boston Strong comes via Variety, which adds that EOne Television was originally developing the project as a miniseries before those plans fell apart.  No reason is given for Affleck’s departure, but he was certainly a draw to the film.

Espinosa became a highly sought after director after the success of 2012’s Safe House, which was his American debut following the Swedish thriller Snabba Cash.  He subsequently became attached to a number of projects (including Michael Fassbender's Assassin’s Creed), but he’s currently in post-production on the Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace-led Soviet thriller Child 44.  It’s unclear how quickly Fox will be moving on the project, but it’s delicate subject matter to be sure.  Something akin to Paul Greengrass’ moving United 93 may be the way to go as opposed to a flat-out thriller, which could feel somewhat exploitative.