Farrell, Knightley latch onto 'London'

William Monahan to direct crime drama

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Farrell

Knightley

Keira Knightley and Colin Farrell are set to star in "London Boulevard," a crime drama that marks the directing debut of "The Departed" scribe William Monahan. Monahan adapted the Ken Bruen novel.

Graham King is producing under his GK Films banner with Monahan and Quentin Curtis. The film will shoot this summer in and around London.

Farrell will play a South London criminal who, after release from prison, tries to give up the gangster life by becoming a handyman for a reclusive young actress.

Farrell, who just won a Golden Globe for "In Bruges," next appears in the ensemble of the Spitfire Pictures-financed drama "The Way Back," which Peter Weir directs in March.

Knightley next stars in "Last Night" for Miramax and is attached to play Zelda Fitzgerald in the John Curran-directed "The Beautiful and the Damned" for the Film Department.