THR is reporting Field of Dreams writer/director Phil Alden Robinson is writing the J.J. Abrams’ untitled heist project for Paramount. The film is based on the Joshua Davis‘ Wired magazine article The Untold Story of the World’s Biggest Diamond Heist (which you can read here). Paramount got the rights for the story over a year ago. Heat Vision summarizes the story below.
It’s about an unprecedented diamond heist in Antwerp, Belgium, and the crew that pulled it off. In early 2003, a small group of Italian thieves circumvented 10 layers of security to access a vault beneath the Antwerp Diamond Center and make off with a purported $100 million in diamonds, gold and jewelry (the actual value remains a mystery). During a six-year span, Davis scored a series of interviews with the ringleader, incarcerated in a Belgian prison, who finally divulged how it was done. Davis acquired the subject’s life rights in the process.
No word yet on who will actually direct the film. I know Darren Aronofsky was also circling a big heist project, but this one sounds great as well. Abrams has done very little wrong in my mind. I don’t if Robinson has the same blockbuster chops to pull off a slick heist film, as his last directing effort The Sum of All Fears wasn’t that impressive, so I’d rather see Abrams actually direct it.
Are you excited for a Abrams heist film?