In 1971 , a group of thieves separate into the secure deposition boxes at LloydsBankon Baker Street in London and stole more than 500,000 British pounds incashand jewellery . Four of the thieves were caught , but the rest disappeared with the lettuce . The audacious stickup – and the accompanying outrage involving murder , corruption , blackjack androyal - familysexphotos – immediately captured the fascination of Great Britain . But three daytime afterwards , all news insurance coverage stopped because of agovernmentgag ordering . It ’s obviously a perfect setup for amovie , but how do you make a hand when there ’s so little info out there – and so many of the major players are still on the lam ?
writer Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais ( " The commitment , " " Flushed aside , " " Across the Universe " ) found a way . They did their best to fill up in the blank , using used accounts , media coverage – what there was of it – and transcript of the thief ' walkie - talking picture conversations to put together a script based as intimately as possible on fact .
The result is " The Bank Job , " directed by Roger Donaldson ( " No Way Out , " " Thirteen day , " " The Word ’s Fastest Indian " ) and starring Jason Statham ( " The Italian Job , " " Crank , " " Transporter " ) . In this article , we ’ll sort fact from fable , excuse how the heist was planned and executed , and limn the challenges the production look in shot and re - creating the look of the ' 70s .
The Story Behind “The Bank Job”
Here ’s the backstory , as cobbled together by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais . The thief were a bunch of small - meter hoods that had been put up to thebankrobbery by a beautiful acquaintanceship . The masterminds of the plot of land , however , were actually agents inMI5 , the British counterintelligence service . They wanted to get their hands on a dependable depository loge owned by a Trinidadian gangster bring up Michael X – because it hold candidsexphotos of a phallus of theroyal family .
The stickup became known as the " Walkie - Talkie Robbery " because the burglars communicated via two - wayradio , and aham - radiooperator caught their conversation on tape as the law-breaking was in procession . He called the police , but they could n’t pinpoint the location – and there were 750 bank in the hunt radius . So the stealer flee with their booty , and the crime was discover at the clear of business sector the next forenoon .
Naturally , the robbery was front - page news program , but all insurance coverage suddenly stopped after three daylight . Apparently , a " D Notice " – a cease - and - desist order from a high level in thegovernment– had been issued on the taradiddle . " There was no exemption of selective information deed in Britain , " notes La Frenais . " Everything that was in the newspaper just disappeared . "
Nine year ago , manufacturer Lawrence Bender fetch the story to Clement and La Frenais and enter them to a journalist named George McIndoe , who knew some of the robbers . Intrigued , they dug deeply and began piecing together fact and evidence .
The writers had a fortune of blanks to fill in for their screenplay . They knew that Michael X had , at one point , been jailed for murder and discharge . " He walked without a trial or anything . It may be because he had these photograph , " says La Frenais . The film hint that the scandalous pic were of Princess Margaret , the female monarch ’s baby .
" Princess Margaret … by all odds did hobnob with some very dubious somebody . She was a company young woman , " conductor Roger Donaldson says . But the truth about the photos ca n’t be corroborated because all document pertaining to Michael X are sealed until 2054 .
Clement and La Frenais knew that more than 100 of the dependable deposition box owner had n’t step forward to identify themselves , so they guessed that many of them were probably umbrageous characters – including a pornographer and a bawdyhouse lady who may have had pictural evidence of prominent clients . They incorporated these fibre in the plot alongside others they invented . Martine , the woman who set up the crime ( wager by Saffron Burrows ) became the catalyst for the heist .
" George [ McIndoe ] peach about a beautiful call girl from the East goal , " La Frenais enunciate . The author made her the link between the thief and MI5 .
" We jazz there was a woman involve ; it was in the papers , " adds Clement . " We think it made mother wit that she was the one who recruited them . "
The original script had a fairly humourous tone , but Clement say it " receive darker and darker as it get along . It was clear that these guy were out of their deepness . " Producers Charles Roven and Steve Chasman got wait of it and sent it to Donaldson . The Australian theatre director jump at the fortune to make a full point holdup motion picture in London but requested less comedy . " He want to make it a thriller in the vein of ' No fashion Out , ' " Chasman says .
Directing “The Bank Job”
When music director Roger Donaldson took the rein on " The Bank Job , " he cut into into his own research , visitingnewspaperarchives and tracking down informant . He talk to policemen , theham - radiooperator and a man who knew Michael X and one of the MI5 private investigator . A individual investigator detect one of thebankrobbers , he enounce , " and after see the real report , it was more spine - chilling than what we had put together . I could never jibe it all into the movie . "
" When we started grind around in London , people think we were making a movie about police corruptness – nobody wanted to talk about it , " he say . He was every bit intrigued by the media blackout on the case : " It has so much relevance to today ’s humankind and the way the spiritualist can fake things . Who have sex what really goes on ? "
During the casting appendage , Donaldson paid airless attention to class deviation and contrast between characters to ward off complicate an already complex story . " I was determined to discover actors who you would not get confused about who they were , " he says . " They had to fit out into the use that they had , and since each level of British order has a very distinctive accent , I was very compulsive to get people whose accents were the real affair . "
In material biography , there were probably about 10 in the gang of bank robber , but the moving picture shrinks their numbers . Jason Statham ’s character , Terry Leather , is an merger of characters – but when one of the existent stealer visited the set , there was a dramatic resemblance . Donaldson directly noticed law of similarity in their personality : " He was like Jason at 70 . "
" People cogitate my dad had come in to put , " laughs Statham , who wo n’t reveal the visitor ’s lawful indistinguishability . In his conversation with the man , who serve two years in prison for the heist , he admits to getting " a slow trickle of data . "
The elderly visitor ’s taradiddle also fascinate manufacturer Steve Chasman . " He evidence me he robbed four more bank … they ’d spray - painted ' Let Sherlock Holmes figure out this ! ' on the inside of the vault . "
Filming “The Bank Job”
The filmmakers briefly look at shooting " The Bank Job " in Melbourne , Australia , but finally decided to turn back to the view of the crime . London did , however , amaze quite a few challenges . " [ It ’s ] a very noisy , unmanageable metropolis to film in , " say theatre director Roger Donaldson . " The city itself is so tight and the roads are so minute , even get across the metropolis is a two - time of day recitation … You just do the best you could . "
The production could n’t shoot inside the factual LloydsBank , but they did use the thieves ' sentry across the street . " The meridian of the construction are still the same – with a little digital help , " enounce Donaldson . spark and other contemporary addition were take away in post - production .
The crew re - created the bank building at various studios and locations around London . But Donaldson says the heist succession were nothing compared to filming at Paddington caravan place , to which the production fetch in a ' seventy - eralocomotive .
" Convincing [ officials ] to allow us to shoot there was a big deal , " he say . " So we had a lot of pressure on us to do things very quickly and be organized and make it happen . There was no light , there so there were a draw of proficient issues . We were n’t even sure we were going to pull it off . "
Weather was a constant issue . " We shoot the flick in the middle of wintertime , so it can get passably gloomful in London , " notes Donaldson . " It give the movie that gray , London look , which was appropriate . "
The filmmakers did desire the setting , auto , closet , hair and war paint to be authentic to the stop , but a calorie-free touch modality was applied to the overall ' seventy search – in other Logos , no " Austin Powers " outlandishness .
" We wanted to make it feel contemporary , " explain producer Charles Roven . " If you see at the mode people are dressed , it ’s minimize . It ’s honest to the period , but you could go out in it today . "
The yield also faced logistical and fiscal obstruction , but the film was end on schedule and on budget for " a modest eight figures , " say Roven .
Banking on “Bank”
What will happen now that " The Bank Job " is refocus attention on a hushed - up 37 - year - old narration ? " We made the cinema under the radar , but now that the celluloid is amount out , both theroyal familyand the [ government activity ] are put in an interesting place , whether they want to talk about it or not , " allege producer Charles Roven , but he ’s not alone in the feeling that the film will get tongue wagging – and hopefully , rearward ends in theater seats .
" People bonk stories about criminals , " maintain genius Jason Statham . " I would never take those chances myself , so I wonder what do these hoi polloi tick , how theirbrainswork . "
" I conceive there ’s a certain amount of vicarious pleasance that we get from watch other people do thing that we would n’t dare do ourselves , " Donaldson aver . " I think heist movies do work because there ’s a free burning tension to them . There ’s the planning part of it , the looting itself , when there ’s even more tenseness , and then you have the backwash . It ’s challenging . "
And , unlike present-day capers like " The Italian Job " or the " Ocean ’s " trilogy , the period constituent of " The Bank Job " makes it specially appealing , says author Ian La Frenais . " It seems so old - fashioned , those days of tunneling through and robbing abank . No one would reckon about doing that today . You ’d just get yourself aBlackBerryand a Rottweiler and become a drug dealer . "
To larn more about " The Bank Job " and other movies , take a spirit at the links on the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .
