BAREFOOT BANDIT Makes $1.3 Million Movie Deal - Dustin Lance Black to write Script
Barefoot Bandit Colton Harris-Moore made a deal with 20th Century Fox and sold the rights to his story for $1.3 million dollars. Before you get all pissed that this criminal is going to make money off this deal, just know that the deal he made with the studio included all of that money going to the victims of his two-year crime spree. Here's what Moore had to say in a statement,
I did things that were not only a violation of law, but also of trust. I can't undo what I did. I can only try to make things better.
I am humbled to know I can now help the people I hurt, at least for the financial damage I caused them. I have absolutely zero interest in profiting from any of this and I won't make a dime off it. It all goes to restitution. That's what I insisted on from the beginning and the contract I signed guarantees it.
He said he would only sign the movie deal contract if his victims would be repaid. At least he's actually trying to make amends and pay his debt for what he's done.
Milk and J.Edgar screenwriter Dustin Lance Black has been hired to write the script for the film. According to Moores attorney, "Nobody knows the nitty-gritty of Colton's story," but it looks like we're going to find out. Sounds like it could end up being something like Steven Spilberg's Catch Me if You Can.
For those of you not familiar with the Barefoot Bandit here's a little rundown of what he did,
He was charged with the thefts of small aircraft, a boat, and two cars and in the burglaries of at least 100 private residences in various locations around the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada. He fled to the Bahamas on July 4, 2010, allegedly in a plane stolen from Bloomington, Indiana. He was indicted on July 6, 2010, by a U.S. Federal Court in Seattle, Washington, on charges of transporting another stolen aircraft in that state. Harris-Moore was arrested in Harbour Island, Bahamas, on July 11, 2010, after police shot out the engine of the boat in which he was attempting to flee. Two days later, he was deported from Nassau, Bahamas, to Miami, Florida, and transferred on July 21 to SeaTac, Washington. On June 17, 2011 Harris-Moore pled guilty to seven felony charges against him, and is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
He became known as the Barefoot Bandit by reportedly committing some of his crimes barefoot, once leaving behind 39 chalk footprints and the word "c'ya!". Despite the widely-reported nickname, officials said that he more often wore shoes.