Danny Boyle to Direct Feature Adaptation of ‘Smash and Grab’ Documentary

[Akijama]

Danny Boyle seems to enjoy the heist genre as he is attached to direct a feature adaptation of the documentary “Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers” for Pathe and Fox Searchlight.

Pathe and Fox Searchlight will co-finance the movie with Boyle’s longtime producing partner Christian Colson, who will produce through his Cloud Eight Films banner.

The documentary, released this past summer, revolves around the world’s most successful diamond thieves who take the audience into the dark world of the international jewel trade. The footage for the doc was captured using real-life surveillance footage as well as interviews with several of the gang.

Boyle most recently directed “Trance,” which dealt with the heist of a famous painting and has since been looking for his next project. There were rumors that Warner Bros. was interested in Boyle for “American Sniper” before putting Clint Eastwood on it.

Sources say Boyle saw “Smash and Grab” and became very interested in turning it into a movie, which led his long-time distributor making a push to come on board. Searchlight has been home to most of Boyle’s films going back to “28 Days Later” so it makes sense that the film landed here.

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/da...ab-1200691598/