We reported in February that Ben Stiller was being lined up to front a heist movie for Universal, now it appears several changes have been made to the project, with a new director lined up.
Deadline have today confirmed that Universal have green lit the project, now titled Tower Heist. Ben Stiller has inked a deal to star, with Brett Ratner taking on directing duties.
Synopsis: Tower Heist centres on the overworked manager (Stiller) of a luxury building who, along with other staff, lost their pensions to a Bernie Madoff-like Wall Street crook. It so happens that the fraudster is being held under house arrest in the luxury penthouse apartment upstairs, and the manager and four cohorts figure a heist will make them whole.
In an interview with Deadline, Ratner was quoted as saying:
It has become the quintessential New York heist movie, where a bunch of blue collar employees in a tower building pull off the ultimate heist.
It’s been reported that Adam Cooper & Bill Collage, Russell Gewirtz, Rawson Thurber, Ted Griffin, Leslie Dixon, Noah Baumbach and Jeff Nathanson have all contributed to the film’s script.
Imagine Entertainment will produce, with Universal handling distribution.
