Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean) has signed on to star in 20th Century Studios drama Boston Strangler, Deadline has learned. Matt Ruskin (Crown Heights) is set to direct with Ridley Scott and Kevin Walsh of Scott Free producing alongside Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara of LuckyChap.

Production will begin on Boston Strangler in December in Boston.

Based on the infamous Boston Strangler murders, this is the true story of Loretta McLaughlin, the first reporter to connect the murders and break the story of the Strangler. She and fellow reporter Jean Cole challenged the sexism of the early 1960s to report on the city’s most notorious serial killer and worked tirelessly to keep women informed. Loretta pursued the story at great personal risk and uncovered corruption that cast doubt on the true identity of the Boston Strangler.

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Keira Knightley will play the infamous reporter McLaughlin. Boston-native Ruskin researched McLaughlin and Cole by tracking down their families and their actual research from the early ’60s.

In 1968, 20th Century Fox released a movie of the same name directed by Richard Fleischer (20,0000 Leagues Under The Sea) and starred Tony Curtis as Albert DeSalvo, the strangler, and Henry Fonda as John S. Bottomly, the chief detective who came to fame for obtaining DeSalvo’s confession. Curtis was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance. The new film will tell the story from the Boston Globes angle.