Taylor Kitsch, Alexandra Daddario, and Academy Award winner Christopher Walken have been cast as the three principal leads in an upcoming true-crime heist thriller, according to Deadline. While initial trade headlines referred to the project simply as Robber, the bodies of reports from both Deadline and MovieWeb identify the feature's full title as The Long Island Bank Robber.
Directed by Matthew Gentile, the film dramatizes the real-life downfall of Stephen Trantel, a former Wall Street commodities trader who turned to robbing banks across New York's Long Island in the early 2000s after losing his job. Principal photography is slated to begin in November 2026 in New Jersey, with Vaneast Pictures handling worldwide sales ahead of the American Film Market.
A Star-Studded Ensemble Takes on a Double Life
The project brings together three high-profile actors to anchor the domestic and criminal sides of the story. Kitsch, known for his work in Lone Survivor and Prime Video's The Terminal List franchise, steps into the lead role of Stephen Trantel.
As noted by MovieWeb, Kitsch has previously portrayed morally complicated figures, including cult leader David Koresh in the miniseries Waco and a troubled police officer in the second season of HBO's True Detective.
Joining Kitsch is The White Lotus star Alexandra Daddario, who portrays Stephen's wife, Jeanne Trantel. According to the official character breakdown shared by Deadline, Jeanne is a discerning spouse who grows increasingly suspicious of her husband's behavior while looking to build her own path outside the home.
Screen veteran Christopher Walken, who won an Oscar for The Deer Hunter, rounds out the primary trio as Stephen's father. The character is described in production materials as a retired New York City police officer who maintains a strict ethical code, adding generational and moral friction to his son's secret criminal enterprise.
The Real-Life Case Behind the Heist
The screenplay adapts the nonfiction book 'Til Heist Do Us Part, co-authored by Michael Harvey and Jeanne Callahan—who is Trantel's real-life ex-wife and recounted the ordeal from her perspective, according to MovieWeb.
The narrative centers on the double life Trantel maintained while hiding his sudden unemployment from those closest to him.
According to Newsday, the real-life Trantel lived in Rockville Centre and was arrested in 2003 on suspicion of robbing 10 banks, including several Fleet branches located on Long Island's South Shore. Prior to his arrest, neighbors and community members knew him as an attentive father and husband who coached Little League and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.
Accounts vary slightly regarding the exact framing of his financial motive. Deadline's official project description notes that Trantel's desperate attempts to keep his family afloat after being fired led him to become one of the region's most prolific bank robbers.
Meanwhile, Newsday, citing reporting from the U.K.'s Mirror, reports that after losing his spot on the trading floor, Trantel turned to crime specifically to maintain his family's upscale existence.
Creative Team and Production Details
Filmmaker Matthew Gentile is set to direct the feature. Gentile previously made his feature directorial debut with the true-crime thriller American Murderer, which starred Tom Pelphrey, Ryan Phillippe, Idina Menzel, and Jacki Weaver, and earned accolades across multiple American film festivals following its premiere at Taormina in Italy.
There is a minor discrepancy in early reporting regarding the script's authorship: Deadline reports that Gentile will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with Bianca Vera, whereas Newsday describes Gentile as directing from his own screenplay without mentioning a co-writer. Speaking to Deadline about his connection to the material, Gentile noted that the case caught his attention years ago.
"The Long Island Bank Robber is a true story I learned about in my youth, growing up in New York City as a true-crime obsessive," Gentile said.
"A propulsive heist film on the surface, the story also tackles complex themes of grief, survival, and marriage. With Taylor, Alexandra, and Christopher as our three leads — I could not have dreamed of a better cast to bring this film to life."
Behind the camera, the film is produced by Vince Jolivette and Richie Hill for Filmopoly, Chris Bellant for Vision Entertainment, and Danielle Gasher for Vaneast Pictures. Kitsch also takes on an executive producer role alongside Andres Budnik, Liam Scholey, Raymond Kimsey, Matt Allen, Dan Reardon, Kyle Fox, Alan B. Bursteen, and Dawn Bursteen. Patricia DiCerto, known for her work on Blue Jasmine, serves as casting director.
What It Means for Movie Fans and Market Buyers
For fans of mid-budget crime dramas, The Long Island Bank Robber pairs a classic early-2000s suburban crime spree with a pedigree ensemble. Rather than staging a standard action-heavy caper, the creative team is positioning the project as a character-driven domestic thriller that examines what happens to a marriage when a breadwinner constructs an elaborate criminal facade.
From an industry perspective, the combination of Kitsch, Daddario, and Walken gives Vaneast Pictures a strong commercial package as it introduces the project to international and domestic buyers ahead of the American Film Market. Producer Richie Hill described the project as a "compelling and layered story," while Vaneast Pictures' Danielle Gasher called the package a "rare find" that merges a true-crime script with an established ensemble.
Who will distribute the film in the United States, and when will it be released?
No U.S. distributor or official theatrical release date has been announced yet. Vaneast Pictures recently acquired worldwide sales rights and is presenting the film to distribution buyers at the American Film Market.
When and where is the movie filming?
According to initial trade announcements from November 2026, principal photography is scheduled to begin in New Jersey in November, though specific towns and filming locations have not been publicly disclosed.
How closely will the movie follow the real-life legal case?
While the film is directly adapted from ex-wife Jeanne Callahan's nonfiction book 'Til Heist Do Us Part, current production announcements focus on the domestic tension and the string of 10 alleged bank robberies leading up to Trantel's 2003 arrest, rather than detailing the subsequent courtroom proceedings or sentencing outcomes.