Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke and Amanda Peet will star in actor-turned-director Brian Goodman’s autobiographical crime drama Real Men Cry for Yari Film Group.
Hawke and Ruffalo will play childhood friends Paulie and Brian, respectively, who are forced to survive on the tough streets of South Boston through a life of petty thievery. They join a local gang of criminals, but Brian finds it hard to reconcile his work and friendship with Paulie and his relationship with his wife (Peet) and son.
First-time feature director Goodman based Ruffalo’s character on his own experiences with a friend who is now serving 100 years in prison for armed robbery. “I came from a broken home and was living in survival mode,” he said. “I have three bullets in me, one in the back of my head.”
After decades of drug and alcohol abuse, Goodman went to prison for assaulting an in-law he says abused his relative. Beginning in the late ’90s, he began getting small roles in Boston films. It was then that he befriended Donnie Wahlberg at a high-stakes card game. The two collaborated on the screenplay with fellow Boston native and actor Paul T. Murray.
“Cry” will film on location in Boston beginning in November. YFG CEO Bob Yari and Marc Frydman are producing with Rod Lurie.
