Add Jake Gyllenhaal to the growing list of actors getting into the producing game. Deadline brings word of an ongoing deal between Gyllenhaal and his Nine Stories banner for The Helicopter Heist, a feature based on the infamous Västberga robbery of 2009.
Netflix is already gearing up to acquire the picture, according to sources close with Deadline, one based on a manuscript from Jonas Bonnier’s still-to-be-published novel of the same name. Staying true to the author’s account, Nine Stories has enlisted Bonnier as executive producer alongside Niclas Salomonsson.
If you’re unfamiliar with the events that transpired seven years ago, The Helicopter Heist will follow a “gang of brazen robbers used a stolen Bell 206 Jet Ranger to land on the roof of the building, where they stole more than $5 million. Police were unable to use their own copters to close in because the thieves placed decoy bombs all around.” Though it may seem like a foolproof plan, the ordeal didn’t end too well for the perpetrators, seven of whom were eventually caught and sentenced.
Beyond that and the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal is in line to star, little is known about the gestating crime thriller. There is room for some comedy within that core premise, which would make a nice tonic coming out of Tom Ford’s stark romantic thriller Nocturnal Animals. That film features Gyllenhaal alongside Amy Adams and Michael Shannon and is, quite frankly, one of the must-see movies going into Hollywood’s annual purple patch. Gyllenhaal also holds a part in Okja, the creature feature in the works from Bong Joon-Ho.
More from The Helicopter Heist as we get it.
