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Dan Trachtenberg Attached to Sci-Fi 'Crime of the Century' at Universal

by Alex Billington
October 13, 2011
Source: Deadline

Are you ready to witness the Crime of the Century? Deadline reports that Universal has acquired a project indeed titled Crime of the Century, a sci-fi heist movie being written by Daniel Kunka (12 Rounds, Agent Ox). The most exciting part, however, is that attached to direct is Dan Trachtenberg (seen above), the budding director and Totally Rad Show host who's been wowing Hollywood with his fan-favorite shorts - Portal: No Escape and More Than You Can Chew. This is his first feature project he's landed since breaking out with the shorts. This is great news for everyone involved, and it sounds like quite an awesome concept!

The only details Deadline has are that it's "original idea hatched by Kunka and Trachtenberg, which revolves around a high-octane heist with a science fiction twist." That sounds as vague as when we first heard about Inception, but I've also heard rumors it may have something to do with time travel, hence the Century part of the name. Either way, with Trachtenberg and Kunka involved, there's bound to be some big ideas. Additionally, the project has the backing of producer Chris Morgan, known for writing Cellular, Wanted, and the two recent hits Fast & Furious and Fast Five, as well as 47 Ronin and Fast and the Furious 6 in the works. He has a deal with Universal and took on the project after being pitched by Kunka/Trachtenberg, which means it'll get some good studio support and maybe a solid budget. Can't wait to see how it develops.

If you're interested in keeping an eye on Trachtenberg, he's fairly active on Twitter as @DannyTRS, and is a true film fan at heart. Personally, as a big fan of anything that involves heists and science fiction, I'm inherently interested in this project anyway—with a rather badass title, too—but we'll definitely be keeping a close eye on it and will be following Trachtenberg's filmmaking career that definitely seems to be on the rise.

Filed under Development, Movie News, Opinions

From around the web:

http://www.twitter.com/zakabitz zakabitz28

I know you guys are friends with Dan but am I the only person that didn't like, at least the story, of the Portal short? It didn't have the same tone as Portal at all. It just rubbed me the wrong way. Special effects were fantastic of course but I don't know, maybe I'm crazy. I just don't see why some people are handed feature deals while there are a lot other well written shorts out there that are overlooked every day. Just my opinion
- http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington
  
  Well, that's fine, I kind of agree, it didn't blow me away storywise either, but Dan's just the director, not the writer. On this project he has a screenwriter, and I'm more intrigued for his vision and approach and final result rather than story, even though the concept sounds pretty cool. I thought the Portal short was good, mostly as a way of showing he has the ability to direct at least. I want to see what he can do with a feature.
Anonymous

agreed.
Saenker

...nothing original at all in his short. way too long at the beginning. the action was shot very poorly. at best this was a show reel for the good vfx !!
http://www.andreascliment.com Andreas Climent

I thought the Portal short was great and am really looking forward to see Dan's first feature!
Theaotvshow

So much puff in this article. I thought "Portal" was very well made, of course, but I doubt anyone is actually excited that he's directing this (considering very few people even know who he is). This is possibly the most transparent PR plug I've seen... which is unfortunate, because Dan is very capable and talented... I don't think such articles are even necessary, maybe for a lesser filmmaker.