Ewan McGregor And Andrew Garfield Making Bank Robberies The New Vampires

Cinemimi[Saturday, March 05, 2011]
Hollywood is driven by trends. Be it vampires or ensemble rom-coms or superhero movies, there are patterns in the business and two upcoming films are hoping to break the mold a little bit by returning the classic bank robber movie back to the forefront of American cinema, so says the LA Times.

The Robber, a German film released only last year, will be adapted for American audiences and could potentially star one of young Hollywood’s biggest up and comers Andrew Garfield. Of course, we as Americans can already see this movie simply by renting it, but I guess since we’re too lazy to read a movie they’ll spend $50 million remaking it for us.

The film follows athlete Johann Retenberger who starts robbing banks as a hobby to fulfill his need for an adrenaline rush. The original focused more on the mystery behind the real life character, omitting personal details of his life that producer Laura Ziskin will include in the American version. Garfield has expressed interest in playing the lead and with Ziskin, who is also producing Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man, the pairing is likely to take place.

Robber is still in its infancy as producers are on the hunt for writers to take on the project.

The second movie looking to make bank robbery cool again, titled Electric Slide, will examine another real life bank robber, except this time it will be Southern Californian Eddie Dodson. Dodson’s story takes place in the 80’s when he began robbing banks for the money to support his drug habits as well as his antique shop on Melrose Ave.

Slide has been in development for ages but has just never found the right producer to get it to the screen. Currently, Blue Valentine producer Jamie Patricof, has the job who, according to the LA Times, often makes good on getting problem projects to theaters. With a name like Ewan MacGregor on board to play the lead though, they shouldn’t run into much more trouble.

Of course while it’s true that bank robbery moviesare few and far between and that the more recent among them haven’t really been about the robbery itself, but about the people’s stories surrounding the heist, but that doesn’t make them any less robbery films. The Town and Inside Man are two great recent examples, then of course there's Heat whose bank robbery sequence sparks one of the greatest shootouts ever filmed, but their main focus is elsewhere. Robber and Slide seem to be hoping to return Hollywood to Bonnie and Clyde era, when heist flicks were about the heist.

Stay tuned for more news as this trend picks up steam in the Hollywood hills.