Latido Films Swoops on ‘The Theft of the Century’(EXCLUSIVE)
By John Hopewell
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – BUENOS AIRES — Ever incorporating ever bigger titles to its slate, Latido Films has boarded the Viacom-backed, Telefe co-produced “El Robo del Siglo” (“The Theft of the Century”), acquiring international rights outside the U.S. to a title which is shaping up as one of Argentina’s biggest bows of early 2020.
Multiple factors elevate it to that category.
“El Robo” is based on Argentina’s most celebrated heist ever, as true crime booms in Argentina (think “El Clan,” “Monzón”). It stars a powerful cast, led by Guillermo Francella (“The Secret in Their Eyes” and “The Clan”) and Diego Peretti (“En terapia”).
“The Theft of the Century” is also produced by AZ Films, MarVista Ent., Viacom International Studios (VIS) and Telefe, with DirectTV in associate production.
Viacom-owned Telefe has backed and promoted most of Argentina’s big hits this last decade, including “The Secret in Their Eyes” and “Wild Tales.”
Headed by Alex Zito, and incorporating Sudestada Cine’s Ignacio Rey, Gaston Rothschild and Juan Pablo Garcia, AZ Films has established itself as a leader in pan-Latin American production partnerships, particularly with Chile and Colombia.
Partnering with star Peretti on “Without Children,” the film’s director Ariel Winograd has also steadily built a large film base, his latest in Argentina, ‘Mom Went on a Trip’, starring Peretti and Carla Peterson, premiering in the winter holidays of 2017 and going on to become the most watched Argentine film of the year, notching up more than one million.
Warner Bros. Pictures will distribute “The Theft of the Century” in Argentina and Latin America.
Opening in cinemas across Argentina on Jan. 16, “The Theft of the Century” kicks off with more than 300 Argentine police officers and Falcon Brigade snipers, surrounding the Rio Bank, waiting to see signs of life from the gang of thieves inside.
As the pizza lead negotiator Miquel Sileo has acquired as part of the robbers’ conditions cools, he must make the call to send his men into the now-silent bank. What meets them inside shocks them: Toy guns, scared hostages and not a thief anywhere in sight, only a stack of empty safe deposit boxes and a sign saying “Sin armas ni rencores, en barrio de ricachones, es solo plata y no amores” (Without guns or resentment, in the neighborhood of the wealthy, there is only money and no love).
Luis Luque (“Tiempo de valientes”), Pablo Rago (“The Secret in Their Eyes”), Rafael Ferro (“La vida después”) and Mariano Argento (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) co-star. “The Theft of the Century” is produced by Pola Zito, Alex Zito, Juan Pablo García, Fernando Szew, Ricardo Freixá, Axel Kuschevatzky, Javier Del Pino and Fernando Carranza, and, via the associate co-production, with Juan González Del Solar and Paula Massa,
“We are very excited to represent one of this year’s most important films, a movie which based in a real story, manages to convey both the thrilling story of a bank heist with the comic aspects of what was almost a surreal planning,” said Antonio Saura, head of .
He added: “It is great to work again with producer Alex Zito, being this our third collaboration, and with a director we so much admire and, on top of that, an incredible cast!”
