By Mark Shanahan & Meredith Goldstein
Boston Globe
September 3, 2010
The stars of director Ben Affleck’s new shot-in-Boston heist drama will attend the Sept. 14 screening at Fenway Park. Making official something we’ve already reported, Warner Bros. yesterday announced that “The Town’’ will premiere at the ballpark, and the all-star cast, including Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, and Chris Cooper, will join Affleck for the special event in the outfield. (The movie, based on Chuck Hogan’s novel “Prince of Thieves,’’ hits theaters Sept. 17.)
Screening the film at friendly Fenway makes sense considering several scenes were shot in and around the park.
The buzz about Affleck’s follow-up to “Gone Baby Gone’’ is good, which doesn’t surprise actor Brian Scannell. The West Roxbury native has a small, but pivotal role in the film, playing a hardened ex-con who tangles with Hamm’s character.
“I think I make him a little less Boy Scoutish,’’ says Scannell. “Ben’s a great director. He knows how to get what he needs out of the actors, and he’s very supportive of improvising to get what he wants.’’ Best known for his work on “Brotherhood,’’ Scannell also had a small but memorable role in “Gone Baby Gone.’’
Nothing doing
Is it possible Newton-bred filmmaker Eli Roth is engaged to Peaches Geldof? Various online gossip sites yesterday posted pics of Peaches — daughter of ex-Boomtown Rat Sir Bob Geldof — wearing a fair-size rock on her ring finger. The pics were snapped as Peaches and Roth were strolling in London, where “The Last Exorcism’’ premiered this week. (Roth produced the movie.)
When we asked Roth if he and Peaches are making it official, he said no, the ring was a gift from a friend. A spokesman for Peaches, 21, concurred, telling the Daily Mail that the socialite is “100 percent not engaged.’’ It wouldn’t be her first marriage.
She was previously married to Jamaica Plain homeboy Max Drummey, a Harvard grad who’s in the band Chester French.