the art of making money Tagged Articles at Cinematical

His captain's chair on the Enterprise secure, Chris Pine has been eager to find roles in this time space continuum to help define him as something other than James T. Kirk. He nearly saw his first post-Trek feature Unstoppable go off the rails, but he's proving to be unstoppable himself as he has already lined up another project. Variety reports that Pine will be returning to Paramount for The Art of Making Money. D.J. Caruso is in talks to direct. (Will it be the start of another beautiful Caruso friendship like he enjoyed with Shia LaBeouf?)

Money is based on a 2005 Rolling Stones article by Jason Kersten (which was then turned into a book) which followed the rise and fall of counterfeiter Art Williams. According to a nifty little bio by NPR, Williams grew up on the south side of Chicago, and turned to counterfeiting bills after being introduced to it by "a gentleman caller" of his mother's. After perfecting the very tricky $100 bill, he went on to produce more than $10 million dollars worth of counterfeit bills. But he wasn't all bad, as he and his girlfriend enjoyed donating many of the things purchased on buying sprees to thrift stores. Eventually Williams was caught and put in prison. He was released but found living legally too boring and cheap, so he promptly began manufacturing money again. Kersten said that "the great irony" of Williams' criminal career was that it proved he had the brains to run a Fortune 500 company if he could have just gone straight.

So, will Pine make a brilliant counterfeiter who enjoys playing Robin Hood from time to time? Will The Art of Making Money be the first of the hard hitting dramas Pine becomes known for, his Captain Kirk just an intriguing note on his resume? We shall see.

It's kind of funny to think that with all the organized crime films made over the years, you can probably count on one hand the ones set in the hyper-violent world of the Tokyo underworld. Luckily, Warner Bros. (and VP Dan Lin) are helping to address this oversight, and have purchased the film rights to Robert Whiting's Tokyo Underworld: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan.

The true-life crime tale was published in 2000 and detailed the taped conversations between Whiting and a gangster by the name of Nick Zappetti. Zappetti came to Japan with occupying US forces after WWII, but stayed on to make a fortune on the black market. After a failed stint as a wrestler (and a botched diamond heist) Zappetti was deported, but returned illegally in the mid-60's to open a pizza place. For the next 15 years, Zappetti's place became the center of Tokyo's nightlife, and an integral part in the Yakuza's rise to power.

VP Dan Lin was given the book on a trip to Tokyo, and as luck would have it, the rights were up for option after the project had lapsed over at Dreamworks. WB wasted no time and hired Frank Baldwin to adapt the book for the screen. Baldwin already has the true-crime flick on the burner; The Art of Making Money with Philip Noyce for Dreamworks, but that project is still a long time coming.

Tokyo Underworld would seem to have it all: a dedicated producer who was responsible for one of the better gangster films of the last 20 years and great source material. As soon as WB lands their director everything should be on track -- might I suggest Martin Scorsese? After all, he was denied a Yakuza film once before, I think he's probably earned one of his own.

Everyone loves a rogue, and "Art Williams, Jr." was a rogue. Williams -- not his real name -- was a genius counterfeiter, circumventing even the state-of-the-art protections of new American bills. According to a 2005 Rolling Stone article (not available online), his fake notes were so good that "an FBI agent is said to have once counted $3,300 of his fakes on the hood of a police cruiser, then handed them back." He printed some $10 million in phony $100 bills before finally getting sent to jail last year, despite having been fingered by the FBI several times prior to that.

In what sounds sort of like Catch Me If You Can redux, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Art's life will be brought to the screen in The Art of Making Money, with Philip Noyce slated to direct after he finishes his Scarlett Johanson-led Mary Queen of Scots project. First-timer Frank Baldwin will write the screenplay from the Rolling Stone article (which will itself soon become a book). It sounds like a return to the good old mainstream days of Clear and Present Danger and The Bone Collector for Noyce, and a departure from his recent arthouse stylings (which included the absolutely sensational Rabbit-Proof Fence).

Weirdly, I can't google up anything on the real guy behind this story -- aside from the Rolling Stone article, he may as well not exist. Not having his real name doesn't help, but I'd have thought something would have turned up. I'll keep trying.