On March 31 , 2015 , CBS Films announced that it was producing the film as '' Patriots ' Day '' , depicting the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and manhunt . The film 's script was written by Matt Charman , and focused on Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis . The film is also based on the book '' Boston Strong '' and material from '' 60 Minutes '' . Its final version , not focused specifically on Davis , was written by Peter Berg , Matt Cook , and Joshua Zetumer ; Mark Wahlberg plays police officer Sgt. Tommy Saunders and Michelle Monaghan plays his wife , Carol . Wahlberg produced the film along with Scott Stuber , Dylan Clark , Stephen Levinson , Michael Radutzky , Hutch Parker , and Dorothy Aufiero . By February 2016 , the title had dropped the apostrophe to become '' Patriots Day '' . Also by then , J. K. Simmons had joined the cast as Watertown PD Sgt. Jeffrey Pugliese
Boston Marathon bombing
Boston Marathon bombing
Patriots Day (film)