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Darren Aronofsky Developing a New Gritty Heist Thriller

by Alex Billington
September 21, 2009

XYZ Films & Time Inc. Studios have partnered with Protozoa Pictures to produce a gritty heist thriller based on the daring robbery of the Securitas Depot in Tonbridge, a £53 Million Sterling score that became known as the "world's biggest heist." The project is being developed by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and being eyed as directing vehicle as well. The story of the robbery was originally told in the Sports Illustrated article "Breaking the Bank" by Jon Wertheim as well as the non-fiction book "Heist: The Inside Story of the World's Biggest Robbery" by Howard Sounes. Kerry Williamson (Fork in the Road) is adapting the script for this.

The Tonbridge Securitas heist, which took place outside of London in February 2006, is valued at over $85M USD – dwarfing previous cash hauls including the infamous 1963 Great Train Robbery and 1978 JFK Lufthansa heist. At least six men were part of the heist, which was thought to be masterminded by UFC competitor "Lightning" Lee Murray. "The story is a very unique British heist tale with colorful London characters. I've always wanted to shoot in England and Kerry is the perfect writer to bring authenticity to this outrageous true bank job," said Aronofsky. Originally, the film was also going to focus on Murray's life.

I'm definitely liking this sound of this. I think it's too early to get our hopes up about Aronofsky actually directing it, but in the end he'll at least be involved as a producer. And knowing that, I can say this will probably be better than The Bank Job, but in my mind it'll be competing head-to-head with Bad Robot's World's Biggest Diamond Heist project, which sounds quite similar. So stay tuned for updates as they arrive.

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