'Boston Strangler' movie sheds light on 2 female journalists who broke story of 1960s serial killer

HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES -- Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon star as two investigative journalists in the film "Boston Strangler." The film is based on the true story in the 1960s and introduces us to the newspaper writers who researched and broke the story of over a dozen women murdered by an unknown man.

Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole worked in a man's world for the "Boston Record American" and faced blatant sexism trying to get their stories published. Knightley and Coon play the journalists, and both admit they were surprised to learn two women were responsible for catching the "Boston Strangler."

"I think their resilience and their tenacity to go after a career and to pursue this story that had been largely ignored by the male establishment at that time, and to try to see its importance, and to recognize that they needed to highlight it for the safety of the other women in their community, I found it very inspiring," said Knightley.

"This story is a good place to start when you have women advocating for other women and advocating for their safety and Keira pointed out it's very important to have women in positions of power so that the stories can be told," said Coon.

Chris Cooper plays Jack McLean, the editor of the newspaper, who, initially, doesn't show much interest in this murder mystery.

"He says to Loretta, well, these, these women are nobodies," said Cooper. "Loretta turns around and says, 'These are the people that read your paper.' And that was a little wakeup call right there for Jack."

"I think the fact that these women weren't seen as important, you know, that they were seen as nothing, that it wasn't a relevant story, because who cared whether they lived or died? You know, I found that like a very poignant thing to have said," said Knightley. "And I'd love to say that that has changed, but I don't know that it's changed as much as we would like it to have."

"Boston Strangler" is streaming now on Hulu.

Disney is the parent company of Hulu and this ABC station.