Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) to direct Lee Murray heist movie?

speeds · Sep 22, 2009

Heist films are always popular. MMA is tendy. Lee Murray is an interesting character. Easy to see how his story (the greatest cash heist in UK history) would make for a good movie. If Jason Statham isn't cast as Murray I will be shocked. Murray was briefly released from a Moroccan prison before being re-arrested at the request of British authorities, who have asked that he be tried for the crime in Morocco (where he fled to and was captured).

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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http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/09/21/darren-aronofsky-developing-a-new-gritty-heist-thriller/

speeds · Sep 22, 2009

Re: Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) to direct Lee Murray heist movie

speeds · Sep 22, 2009

Here is the back story for anyone unaware:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securitas_heist

The Securitas depot robbery was a robbery which took place in the early hours of 22 February 2006, between 01:00 and 02:15 UTC in England, an operation that succeeded in stealing the largest cash amount in British crime history. At least six men abducted and threatened the family of the manager, tied up fourteen staff members and stole £53,116,760[1] (about US$92.5 million at the time of the robbery) in bank notes from a Securitas Cash Management Ltd depot in Vale Road, Tonbridge, Kent.
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The manager of the depot, Colin Dixon, was abducted at about 18:30 on 21 February, apparently while driving his Nissan Almera to his home in Herne Bay. He was pulled over on the A249 just outside Stockbury, a village North East of Maidstone, by what he thought was an unmarked police vehicle due to the blue lights behind the front grill. A man approached him in high-visibility clothing and a police-style hat. The manager proceeded to get into the police impostor's car, thinking that he was a police officer, where he was then handcuffed by others in the vehicle. He was then driven west on the M20 motorway to the West Malling bypass where he was bound further, transferred into a white van and transported to a farm in Staplehurst, Kent.

As this was taking place, the manager's wife and eight-year-old son were being held hostage at their home in Herne Bay, after they answered the door to men dressed in police uniforms, who falsely informed them that the manager had been involved in a road traffic accident. They were then driven to the farm at which the manager was being held, where he was told at gunpoint that failure to cooperate could put him and his family in danger.

The depot manager, his wife and son were taken to the Securitas depot in Tonbridge at around 01:00, travelling in a plain white van, being held at gunpoint. At the depot, 14 members of staff were bound by robbers, armed with handguns and wearing balaclavas.

The robbery came to an end at approximately 02:45. The staff including Mr Dixon's wife and son were left locked in cash cages. However, Mr Dixon's son was small enough to be able to squeeze through the bars and free the others. It was still another half hour before staff members, who had been tied up, managed to raise the alarm[2]. Police officers arriving on the scene discovered staff, the manager and his family, bound but physically unharmed.

The notes will be difficult to trace and link to the robbery because they are used notes and not newly printed, unlike the notes stolen in the Belfast robbery of 2004.

The Bank of England, to which the money belonged, was reimbursed £25 million by Securitas the same day, and has assured the public that Securitas will make up any additional loss.

In July 2007, Securitas announced that it intended to exit the Cash Management market and withdraw from the joint venture with Barclays and HSBC.
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speeds · Sep 22, 2009

The heist was the second biggest in history (as far as anyone can tell) besides the looting of the Central Bank of Iraq the day before the US started bombing Baghdad in 2003 (approx. $1B-USD disappeared). It took five hours for boxes of $100-bills to be loaded onto a truck, according to bank officials. Because it was 10,000,000 bills. H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T that is a lot of money.

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Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) to direct Lee Murray heist movie?

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Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) to direct Lee Murray heist movie?

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