Boston resident Matt Ruskin has heard of the Boston Strangler most of his life. However, it was only a few years ago that he decided to make it the subject of his latest film.
Ruskin, however, wanted to tell the boston strangler with a different purpose, he said Deadline.
“When I started reading about the case, I realized I didn’t know anything about it. And I found this really intricate and fascinating murder mystery. There was a much bigger story about both the city and the era with lots of twists and turns that I found so compelling I thought it would make a really good movie.
“I could never really get excited about doing a hard cop version of this story. There are a lot of aspects that criticize the police and so it just didn’t really work.
He continued: “And then I heard an interview with this reporter named Loretta McLaughlin who told the story of the Boston Strangler; she was one of the first journalists to connect the murders. During her reporting, she gave her name to the Boston Strangler. I love journalism stories and journalism movies and have tremendous respect for good journalism, which is more important than ever. So I thought that would be a really interesting way to revisit this story.
It was important for Ruskin not to glorify the boston strangler.
“I love true crime stories. I consider myself a fan but as a filmmaker I really didn’t want to make a movie that was gratuitous in any way,” he said.
“It was really important to be respectful of these victims, and not to glorify violence or create gratuitous portrayals of violence. I’ve always been drawn to character-driven stories, so finding that element centered on the human, that anchor is what I’m looking for. I was so inspired by Loretta’s work and her passion for what she did, that it felt like a really meaningful way to get into that story otherwise very dark.
Based on the infamous Boston Strangler murders, the film follows Loretta McLaughlin, the first journalist to connect the murders and break the Strangler story.