Courtney B. Vance, Keesha Sharp, Keith David and more are set to star in Heist 88, which is inspired by true events. The film will tell the story of one of the largest bank heists ever to occur in the United States.
Bentley Green, Xavier Clyde, Nican Robinson and Precious Way are also set to star in the film. Menhaj Huda is attached to direct based on a script Dwayne Johnson-Cochran wrote.
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Heist 88 centers on Jeremy Horne (Vance), a criminal mastermind with an innate ability to convince anyone to do just about anything. Ahead of his 1988 prison stint, Horne decides to pull one last job. He goes on to recruit four young bank employees to steal close to $80 million dollars via a sophisticated takedown of the banking wire system.
Sharp will play Bree Barnes, an elegant, smart, political consultant that possesses a criminal mind and is Jeremy’s love interest.
David will portray Buddha Ray (Raymond Oliver), a master safecracker and mentor to Jeremy.
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Clyde will play Danny Pugh, a nerdy, comic book collector who is brilliant with numbers, data and loves research but has given up on his job at the bank.
Green will portray Marshall King, a cocky, energetic, house music DJ and Jeremy’s nephew.
Robinson will play Rick Windom, a young loyal bank employee working in “the back of the bank” for nearly six years with dreams of becoming a stockbroker.
Way will portray LaDonna Sanders, a beautiful, bright, bank employee who is ambitious but unseen at First Chicago Bank.
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The film is currently shooting in Chicago and reunited Vance with
Vance is also producing the project via his and Angela Bassett’s Bassett and Vance Productions. The project comes on the tails of Bassett and Vance renewing their overall deal with MTV Entertainment Studios. Heist 88 will serve as the first feature under the new pact.
The partnership between Paramount Media Networks’ MTV Entertainment Studios and Bassett Vance Productions stems from Paramount’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative, a global effort to provide opportunities and help advance content creation for a new generation of BIPOC and women leaders in front of and behind the camera.
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MTV Entertainment Studios and Gunpowder & Sky are also producing. Bassett, Vance, Lynnette Ramirez, and Johnson-Cochran executive produce for Bassett Vance Productions, Van Toffler and Barry Barclay for Gunpowder & Sky.
Heist 88 has been a passion project for Vance, Bassett and Johnson for years. It was set as a series at FX in 2017 and a fictionalized version of the story was later in development, also as a series, at HBO.