Affleck may direct film about Don Bolles

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Ben Affleck is in talks to direct a film about Arizona Republic journalist Don Bolles who was slain in 1976 while working on a story about political corruption.

"The Longest Yard" scribe Sheldon Turner penned the screenplay for the as-yet-untitled film, which would serve as a follow-up to Affleck's celebrated directorial debut "Gone Baby Gone," The Hollywood Reporter said.

Bolles died 11 days after his car was blown up when he was invited to meet a source who didn't show up as planned at a Phoenix hotel. The journalist was working on a story about political corruption and organized crime, the entertainment industry trade newspaper said.

Investigative Reporters and Editors, a group of national journalists Bolles had been trying to organize, responded to his death by sending dozens of investigative reporters to Phoenix to finish Bolles's work, an effort that became known as the Arizona Project. The campaign ultimately produced 40 articles about corruption in the state, The Hollywood Reporter said.