Casey Affleck is lining up a role in a drama set against the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Affleck, who grew up in the Massachusetts capital with his brother Ben, will take an unspecified part in Boston Strong, based on the book of the same name by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge. He will also be a producer.

Chechen brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were responsible for the 2013 attack, which killed three people and reportedly injured as many as 264 others. Tamerlan was shot several times by police, run over by his escaping brother and pronounced dead at the scene. Dzhokhar was later arrested following a manhunt and will stand trial in January. The US attorney general has said the federal government will seek the death penalty against the terrorist, who was 20 at the time of the incident.

The Affleck brothers attended the same high school, Cambridge Rindge and Latin, where the Tsarnaevs studied. Boston Strong is a term which came to define the aftermath of the attacks as an expression of citywide unity, but has also been criticised for understating the suffering of victims.

A separate project about the aftermath of the bombings was announced in July, based on the story of a man who lost both legs in the attacks and helped identify the perpetrators. Jeff Bauman was waiting for his girlfriend at the finish line in April 2013 when the two pressure cooker bombs exploded. His book Stronger, which was published in April, was reportedly being adapted for a new screenplay by playwright John Pollono, with the producing team behind David O Russell drama The Fighter also involved.