Keira Knightley shares what makes ‘Boston Strangler’ unique

British actress Keira Knightley thinks Boston Strangler isn’t like all the other true-crime stories.

“I’d always been a bit scared about making things like this. They always seemed to glorify the killer. A man who hunted women, being hunted by two women — that was an interesting take,” said Keira Knightley.

Knightley plays real-life 1960s reporter Loretta McLaughlin in the full-of-character film. With coworker Jean Cole (Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age), Loretta chases the story of a serial killer, Boston Strangler, who claimed 13 victims.

The case “was famously badly handled,” Knightley says. “Loretta wanted justice,’ highlighting that the journalists were under a lot of pressure from police and editors to drop the story.

Speaking about the clashing personalities of the two main characters Knightley said: “Loretta was a bull in a china shop.”

According to Coon, the more experienced Cole knew “you have to let the story come to you, use a little manipulation to get into the rooms you want to get into. Jean shows that to Loretta.”

“They were criticizing the police, so they didn’t know if the harassment was coming from a psychopath or a disgruntled policeman,” Coon says.

“[One] reason [Loretta] pursued it so doggedly was her oldest child was a girl,” Knightley stresses, saying the mother would have done “everything in her power” to prevent violence against women.

Boston Strangler will be released on March 17 on Hulu.