We were pretty excited when we first heard about the David Hayter-penned Caught Stealing at Toronto last year, mostly because the central casting of Alec Baldwin and Patrick Wilson sounded ripe with enjoyable possibilities. As we pointed out at the time, it’s primarily Wilson’s involvement that excites us: with an impressive filmography that includes Little Children, Watchmen, Young Adult, and even a bit part in Prometheus, Wilson still remains a mysteriously underused performer in Hollywood, and a collaboration with the widely-liked Baldwin would probably do some good things for the actor’s public profile.
At the time of that earlier report, we hadn’t received word of any directing possibilities, but this new piece from Deadline suggests that Caught Stealing is on the verge of finding its helmer in Stefan Ruzowitzky, who last made the snow-covered crime-thriller Deadfall. Though Ruzowitzky hasn’t yet capitalized fully on the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar win for his historical drama The Counterfeiters, much of the early information we have makes me think that Caught Stealing — which is currently being shopped at the Berlin Film Festival — could be a good fit for him.
Screenwriter Hayter, for instance, has some strong credits under his belt — including X2 and Watchmen — and while Deadfall wasn’t the most impressive thing in the world, it had its fair share of atmospheric authority that could easily be rendered more effective if used in service of sharper genre material. The one-line synopsis Deadline provides — a “thriller about a man lost in a bloody treasure hunt through New York City” — doesn’t say much, but the Amazon page of the Charlie Huston novel is stocked with information that Hayter can hopefully craft into something worthwhile. With the right mix of ingredients, then, Caught Stealing could not only amplify Wilson’s exposure, but Ruzowitzky’s as well.
Do you think Ruzowitzky would do a capable job with this material? Have you read the Huston novel?