FILM · 2010 · UK
The Town
37 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (37)
- #001
The scene in which a police officer turns his back after seeing masked armed robbers flee is based on a real event. Ben Affleck added it to the film after interviewing a bank robber in prison.
- #002
Before the film was released, Ben Affleck praised Jeremy Renner's performance. Joking, he noted that if someone else had a bad take or performance in a scene, the edit could easily cut to Renner looking at a napkin to make the scene work. Jeremy Renner would go on to receive an Oscar nomination for his performance.
- #003
Jeremy Renner surrounded himself with real convicted bank robbers in Charlestown to research the role and to help him correct his accent.
- #004
Ben Affleck initially wanted Mark Wahlberg for the role of James Coughlin, but Wahlberg was busy shooting The Fighter (2010), so the role went to Jeremy Renner, who ultimately received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
- #005
Studio executives initially wanted the novel's ending, in which Doug (Ben Affleck) is fatally wounded in his confrontation with Fergie (Pete Postlethwaite) and dies in Claire's (Rebecca Hall) apartment in her arms. That ending was filmed, but test audiences approved the theatrical version in which Doug survives.
- #006
The original cut ran four hours. Realizing the film would never appeal to a broad audience, Ben Affleck cut it down to 2 hours 50 minutes in three days. The studio and producers liked the film very much but wanted it to be no longer than 2 hours 10 minutes. Affleck eventually brought it down to 2 hours 8 minutes. He was happy with the theatrical cut but said the Extended Cut on DVD and Blu-ray would feature deleted scenes on top of the trimmed footage. He also said that while the theatrical cut of "The Town" is a close adaptation of the novel "Prince of Thieves," the extended cut is more faithful to the book.
- #007
Owen Burke, who played Desmond Elden, was a 20-year-old Charlestown native who had previously gotten caught up in gangs in his youth. It was his first acting role, and when Ben Affleck first called him he was convinced it was a joke.
- #008
This film convinced Zack Snyder that Ben Affleck would be a good Batman, because Affleck was playing a physically imposing character leading a double life.
- #009
Chris Cooper's scene was shot at MCI-Cedar Junction, a maximum-security prison in Massachusetts. It was the first time anything had been filmed there.
- #010
While shooting the first robbery, Ben Affleck sometimes directed in full costume, including the skull mask. Rebecca Hall could not keep a straight face and found it difficult to take direction from him while he was in costume.
- #011
Ben Affleck cited The Departed (2006), Heat (1995), Mystic River (2003) and The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) as influences on this film. Affleck said of them, "They're all R-rated films in the same vein, and these are the films I used as the gold standard for success here."
- #012
Ben Affleck asked Blake Lively to visit locals in Charlestown to research her role. Lively spent a month with local people, in their apartments and bars, before shooting began.
- #013
Dez's (Owen Burke) death scene had to be signed off by Major League Baseball (MLB). According to Ben Affleck, one of the cuts also included blood splattering onto the ambulance. MLB decided the scene was too violent, and Affleck used the other cut, which contained less blood.
- #014
Victor Garber's brief appearance in the film was a favor to his friend Ben Affleck. Garber had worked for five years with Affleck's then-wife Jennifer Garner on the series Alias (2001), and Garber officiated at Garner and Affleck's wedding.
- #015
In the 1920s, the famous Chicago gangster Dean O'Banion ran a flower shop as a front for his bootlegging operations. Like the Fergie character in this film, he was eventually shot dead in his flower shop. The real event was also recreated in the series Boardwalk Empire.
- #016
The production ran into so many problems with the practical effects in the shooting scenes that most of the bullet holes were added digitally in post-production.
- #017
One scene in the extended cut shows a film on television of a white truck entering a drive-in theater. It is also a scene from "Heat" (1995), which follows bank robbers pursued by an obsessive detective.
- #018
Ben Affleck told Rodrigo Prieto, the cinematographer of Amores Perros, that he copied the entire car chase scene from that film and applied it in The Town.
- #019
The film's premiere was held at Fenway Park. The cast walked the red carpet along the first baseline.
- #020
George Carroll was a concession vendor at Fenway Park in his youth. He described going there to shoot the film as "surreal."
- #021
The film was initially planned to be directed by Adrian Lyne. He fell out with Warner Brothers, so they asked Ben Affleck to step in.
- #022
The sign above the sink in Coughlin's kitchen reads "Cead Mile Failte," which means "A Hundred Thousand Welcomes" in Irish.
- #023
Jeremy Renner's Oscar-nominated performance for Best Supporting Actor was the only performance nominated in that category that year for a film not nominated for Best Picture.
- #024
A large part of the film takes place at Fenway Park. Affleck is a loyal Red Sox fan and regularly attends games.
- #025
The forearm tattoo of Fergie's assistant features an outline of Massachusetts filled with the colors of the Irish flag and the Charlestown zip code.
- #026
It was the only film nominated for Best Picture at that year's Producers Guild of America Awards but not nominated at the Oscars.
- #027
It was sent to theaters under the code name "Criminal Intent."
- #028
While interrogating Doug MacRay, Frawley says, "despite your pitiful misguided Irish Omertà." He explains that Omertà is actually a Sicilian code of honor and conduct that values silence in the face of questioning by authorities or outsiders. However, he calls it "Irish Omertà," referring specifically to MacRay and his associates practicing their "Irish version" of the Sicilian Omertà.
- #029
In July 2011, during the debate in the U.S. Congress over raising the nation's debt ceiling, Republican Party leaders used a clip from this film, specifically a scene between Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner, as a motivational tool at meetings aimed at boosting party unity. It was immediately mocked by comedy commentators Jon Stewart and Bill Maher.
- #030
Chris Pine was considered for the role of Jem Coughlan. John Cena auditioned for the role of Albert "Gloansy" MacGloan.
- #031
According to Boston Police Cruiser cameras, the brazen armored truck robbery in the city's North End took place on August 27, 2010.
- #032
The cast includes two Oscar winners, Ben Affleck and Chris Cooper, and two Oscar nominees, Jeremy Renner and Pete Postlethwaite.
- #033
Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm would later reunite in "Tag" (2018).
- #034
F.B.I. interview records show Claire Keesey's birthday as May 19, 1978. Rebecca Hall, who plays Claire, was born on May 19, 1982.
- #035
The Town is set in Boston, Ben Affleck's hometown.
- #036
In the interview scene, Frawley tells Doug, "You're going to die in federal prison. All your friends too," but he is ultimately proven wrong. At the end of the film, as Doug escapes, Jem, Dez and Gloansy are killed in a shootout. None of them goes to prison.
- #037
Four of the film's supporting stars (Affleck, Hamm, Lively and Renner) have hosted "Saturday Night Live."
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