It’s been almost four years since Brett Ratner first announced his intention to direct Tower Heist, and now it looks like the film will finally come together in November, with Ben Stiller definitely locked in to star after months of rumour and negotiation.
When it was first pitched, the project was called Trump Heist, and saw the likes of Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker as an African- American team of thieves who target the famously bewigged businessman. You’ll likely be less than surprised to learn that Ted Griffin was behind that version.
But in the years that have passed, the script has been through lots of other keyboards, including Rawson Thurber, Leslie Dixon, and, more recently, Noah Baumbach and Jeff Nathanson.
And, of course, Stiller is now the star, with the story focused on his character, an overworked manager in a luxury apartment/office building who, along with several other staff members, sees their pensions vanish thanks to a Wall Street huckster. But when they learn the crook is being held under house arrest in a luxury unit in their very building, their revenge takes the form of a heist.
Ratner explained the process of honing the script to Deadline: “It has become the quintessential New York heist movie, where a bunch of blue collar employees in a tower building pull off the ultimate heist. I brought the script to Ben on the Little Fockers set, and said this is perfect for you. He was looking at other projects like Mr Popper's Penguins, I asked Noah Baumbach to do some specific character work for Ben. Then my Rush Hour guy Jeff Nathanson brought it home. The major difference from the **Ocean’s **films is those guys were expert thieves. These are real guys whose talent is they know the inner workings of the building and the people in it. It took a long time for this to come together, but it was totally worth the wait. This has a lot of heart to go along with the humour.”
With a start date now in mind, it looks like Ratner really is back in the directing game, as aside from his contribution to New York, I Love You, he hasn’t hefted a megaphone since Rush Hour 3. Glad to see him back, or just afraid? Tell us!