Los Angeles  - Ben Affleck has signed on to direct and star in the romantic crime thriller The Town, according to The Hollywood Reporter Tuesday.

Jon Hamm from the hit TV show Mad Men and Rebecca Hall from Vicky Cristina Barcelona are in line to costar in the movie.

The film is based on the Chuck Hogan novel Prince of Thieves and has Hamm playing an FBI agent on the heels of a bank robber (Affleck) who is considering going straight after falling in love with a bank teller (Hall).