'The Raid' Director To Make Former Darren Aronofsky Heist Project 'Breaking The Bank'

We knew that Gareth Evans, who directed The Raid, had to be tapped soon for a studio project. Now Universal has picked up the rights to Breaking the Bank, a film that will chronicle  "the daring robbery of the Securitas Depot in Tonbridge, a £53 Million Sterling score (around $86 million US)," a crime that was put into motion by UFC fighter 'Lightning' Lee Murray.

Back in 2009 Darren Aronofsky was developing this same project, but ended up moving on to other things, and is now finally about to make Noah. So Universal picked up the project for Evans, and will likely be re-developed slightly to suit his sensibility.

Deadline says that Kerry Williamson's script is still in play. That draft is based on an April 2008 Sports Illustrated article by Jon Wertheim called Breaking the Bank, and the non-fiction book Heist: The Inside Story of the World's Biggest Robbery by Howard Sounes. This robbery is said to be the largest cash heist in history.

Evans' name was made as a dedicated action director; The Raid doesn't have much in the way of character or story. Breaking the Bank will require a lot more work in both departments, and so hopefully we'll see a lot more of what Evans can do. Whether this happens before or after the sequel to The Raid remains to be seen.

On Wednesday, 22 February 2006, GBP53 million in bank notes was stolen from a cash warehouse belonging to the Securitas company in Tonbridge, Kent — a sum of money so vast that if the notes were stacked up they would equal the height of high-rise building. In terms of value, the Tonbridge Securitas robbery puts all previous famous British capers, such as the Great Train Robbery and the Brink's-Mat bullion heist, in the shade; it also overshadows similar robberies overseas. Only in times of war have larger cash sums been stolen. This was a crime notable for its audacity, carried out in a small town in the Garden of England. A large number of people have been charged in connection with the Tonbridge robbery, with eleven men and women standing trial at the Old Bailey in summer 2007. Further details cannot be revealed at this stage, for legal reasons, but the full story will be told in Heist, by the author of one of the most successful true crime titles of recent years. Full of jaw-dropping detail and full of narrative pace, it will be the definitive account of these strange and compelling events.