THE RAID's Gareth Evans To Direct BREAKING THE BANK

Gareth Evans, the man who made one of the craziest action films ever made, The Riad, is set to direct a movie for Universal Pictures called Breaking the Bank.  The film is a fact-based drama that was supposed to be directed by Darren Aronofsky at one point, but he had to drop out to focus on his Noah epic. 

The film is based on a book written by Howard Sounes called Heist: The True Story Of The World’s Biggest Cash Robbery, as well as a Sports Illustrated article written called Breaking The Bank by L. Jon Wertheim. Accroding to Deadline the story "is based on the life of former UFC fighter “Lightning” Lee Murray, a mixed martial arts street brawler who masterminded the largest cash heist in history in England in 2006." The robbery occured at the Securitas Depot in Tonbridge, and they walked away with about $86 million US dollars. 

Evans has shown that he can do badass action, but the story and characters for this new film are a bit more complex than The Raid. That being said, I think this project is a good fit for him and his style. It sounds like it will be a great movie, and I'd like to believe that Evans will be able to pull it off.

Here's a a description of what went down...

On Wednesday, 22 February 2006, GBP53 million in bank notes was stolen from a cash warehouse belonging to the Securitas company in Tonbridge, Kent — a sum of money so vast that if the notes were stacked up they would equal the height of high-rise building. In terms of value, the Tonbridge Securitas robbery puts all previous famous British capers, such as the Great Train Robbery and the Brink’s-Mat bullion heist, in the shade; it also overshadows similar robberies overseas. Only in times of war have larger cash sums been stolen. This was a crime notable for its audacity, carried out in a small town in the Garden of England. A large number of people have been charged in connection with the Tonbridge robbery, with eleven men and women standing trial at the Old Bailey in summer 2007. Further details cannot be revealed at this stage, for legal reasons, but the full story will be told in Heist, by the author of one of the most successful true crime titles of recent years. Full of jaw-dropping detail and full of narrative pace, it will be the definitive account of these strange and compelling events.

GeekTyrant Homepage