Danny Boyle’s choice of project is always fairly curious, but after the surreal and astounding Trance, it seems there’s more heist films in Boyle’s future. Variety is reporting that Danny Boyle has opted to direct a feature adaptation of Havana Marking’s Smash & Grab: The Story of The Pink Panthers. Fox Searchlight and Pathe are on board, as well as frequent producer of Boyle’s work Christian Colson.
The report goes on to say that Boyle was inspired after watching the documentary, and felt an immediate connection with the piece, before voicing that he’d be interested in adapting it. After getting Fox Searchlight involved, planning seems to be well underway. This isn’t exactly the first title Danny Boyle has had his name attached to post Trance – see Maximum City and Porno (sequel to Trainspotting) – but those both seem to be still in development at present.
The story for Smash & Grab involves a real tale of a band of diamond thieves known as ‘The Pink Panthers’ who stole about $30 million worth of diamonds in under 3 minutes. Here’s the documentary synopsis….
Their crimes resemble high-octane Hollywood action movies: a sports car speeds through a Dubai shopping mall, crashing into the windows of a Graff jewelry store. Masked, gun-wielding men jump out of the car, and stuff fistfuls of diamonds into their satchels before screeching off. In London, they took all of three minutes to make off with $30 million in diamonds. They are captured — not in person, but on surveillance tapes that record their astonishing lightning strikes with hypnotic accuracy. Dubbed ‘The Pink Panthers,’ the formidable Balkan gang has stolen nearly a billion dollars worth of jewels from boutiques in the world’s most opulent cities including Geneva, Paris, London, Dubai and Tokyo.
And here’s the trailer for Smash & Grab: The Story of The Pink Panthers…
More news as it comes.
Originally published October 5, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
