Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky will direct and produce an indie heist thriller based on the daring $85 million robbery at the Securitas Depot in Tonbridge, England, in February 2006.
XYZ Films and Time Inc. Studios are partnered with Protozoa Pictures on the project. Scott Franklin of Protozoa will produce alongside Aronofsky. Time Inc. Studios chief Paul Speaker is exec producing, with XYZ fully financing the development.
Kerry Williamson is adapting the script from an underlying rights package that includes Jon Wertheim's Sports Illustrated magazine article "Breaking the Bank" and Howard Sounes' nonfiction book "Heist: The Inside Story of the World's Biggest Robbery."
Time and XYZ established a partnership a year ago to develop and produce movies based on articles from Time Inc.'s publications (
Daily Variety, Aug. 5, 2008) and identified its first project after optioning "Breaking the Bank," covering the alleged criminal exploits of Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor "Lightning" Lee Murray.
The companies recently signed Alex Holmes ("House of Saddam") to direct the John DeLorean feature project that is in pre-production and based on Fortune and Time articles, among other underlying rights.
Williamson recently adapted "Fork in the Road" for Alexander Payne and Fox Searchlight and "The Devil's Banker" for Paramount.
Contact Dave McNary at
dave.mcnary@variety.com