Way back in 2011, fledgling director Dan Trachtenberg’s first short, Portal: No Escape, became a viral sensation – and captured Hollywood’s attention. It wasn’t long before Universal and writer-producer Chris Morgan snapped up his next pitch, entitled Crime Of The Century. Hard at work developing the feature with writer Daniel Kunka (12 Rounds), Trachtenberg also took on his directorial debut project, Valencia, for Bad Robot. Whether or not this has slowed progress on Crime, it’s unknown. But Universal have hired Gary Dauberman to come aboard.
The scribe behind New Line’s upcoming The Conjuring spinoff, Annabelle, Dauberman has been busy working for the last decade in the horror genre. Mainly doing uncredited rewrites. He’s polished up a number of high-profile flicks, including Nightmare On Elm Street, Into The Storm and Final Destination. His biggest solo win so far was when he sold his original spec script, Burst. Sam Raimi and The Descent‘s Neil Marshall snapped up that project, which revolves around a bunch of people trapped in a cabin as a blizzard rages outside – only to find themselves bursting one-by-one. That premise alone is reason enough to think this guy’s got what it takes to rock the cajones out of Crime.
Speaking of, there’s not a whole lot to go with regards to the story. We do know that it “revolves around a high-octane heist with a science fiction twist.” That twist is said to include a group of thieves who embark on the crime of the century using time travel. Who doesn’t love a good chrono-jump?
More news on Crime Of The Century as it lands.
