Gridlocked helmer Allan Ungar’s newest crime thriller, Bandit, has locked multiple distribution deals out of Cannes. Highland Film Group is repping international sales for the film which stars Josh Duhamel, Mel Gibson, Elisha Cuthbert and Nestor Carbonell, and is in post-production.
Inspired by the true story of ‘The Flying Bandit’ who successfully got away with 59 bank and jewelry heists, career criminal Robert Whiteman (Duhamel) escapes from a US prison and crosses the border into Canada where he assumes a new identity. After falling in love with Andrea (Cuthbert), he turns to robbing banks and discovers that he’s exceptionally good at it, flipping through different disguises at every heist across the country. Robert is addicted to the rush and money that fuels his double life, but turns to lifetime gangster Tommy (Gibson) for a bigger investment. Tommy convinces Robert there is more money in jewelry heists and drags him into the biggest jobs in the country’s history. With Robert’s notoriety growing in record time, he is put into the direct sights of the brilliant Detective Snydes (Carbonell), setting off a cross-country manhunt to put Canada’s most wanted bank robber behind bars.
Bandit is written by Kraig Wenman and based on author Robert Knuckle’s best-selling novel and journalist Ed Arnold’s interviews with Gilbert Galvan Jr, who lived under the name Robert Whiteman when he was dubbed the Flying Bandit in 1987.
The film has been acquired for the UK and Scandinavia (Signature Entertainment), Germany and German-speaking Switzerland (SquareOne Entertainment), France and French-speaking Switzerland, (Originals Factory), Spain (YouPlanet Pictures) and Bulgaria, Ex-Yugoslavia, Czech Republic/Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia/Baltics (Daro Film Entertainment).
Further sales were made for territories such as Benelux (Three Lines), Greece (Spentzos Film), Italy (Minerva Pictures), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), Turkey (MovieBox), the Middle East (Eagle Films), Israel (SPI International), India (PictureWorks), South Korea (Joy N Cinema), Taiwan (Cai Chang), South Africa (Filmfinity) and Australia/New Zealand (Madman Entertainment).
Bandit is produced by Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Productions and Eric Gozlan of Goldrush Entertainment.
Duhamel is exec producing with Ungar and Wenman alongside Highland’s Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier, and BondIt Capital Media’s Shaun Sanghani, Luke Taylor, Matthew Helderman and Tyler Gould, and with Richard Switzer, Ian Niles, Lee Broda, Colby Colte, Jason Kringstein, Scott Levinson, Lisa D’Ambrosio, Peter R. Anske, Dr. Faisal Mahmood and Packer Morley.
“I had as much fun making this film as anything I’ve done in my career. This is the kind of character you dream about as an actor and I’m really proud of the ride that Bandit takes you on,” commented Duhamel.
“I’m so thrilled to see the physical return of the Cannes festival and market, and couldn’t be happier about Bandit being available for audiences around the world to see later this year. I can guarantee it’s an experience that will resonate with everyone,” added Ungar.
Highland Film Group’s current sales slate of films also includes action thrillers like the recently-announced Land of Bad and Blood For Dust, as well as Neil LaBute’s Fear the Night starring Maggie Q, Daniel Casey’s Wardriver and Rusty Cundieff’s sci-fi thriller 57 Seconds, Adrian Grünberg’s thriller The Black Demon, James Cullen Bressack’s Hot Seat, K. Asher Levin’s Slayers starring Thomas Jane, Renny Harlin’s The Misfits, Avan Jogia’s Door Mouse starring Hayley Law, Famke Janssen and Keith Powers, Tim Sutton’s fictional music biopic Taurus with Colson Baker, horror thriller Felix starring Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, John Stalberg Jr.’s Muzzle starring Aaron Eckhart, and One True Loves starring Shang-Chi’s Simu Liu, Phillipa Soo and Luke Bracey.