Darren Aronofsky swaps somber drama for gritty chaos in his latest, a crime caper, Caught Stealing. Set in the gritty late-’90s East Village, the crime caper stars Austin Butler as Hank Thompson, a washed-up ex-baseball player just trying to mind his own business, until a favor for a neighbor spirals into a full-blown nightmare involving stolen mob money, mistaken identity, and a parade of eccentric criminals.
The film, based on Charlie Huston’s cult novel and adapted by the author himself, finds Hank scraping by as a bartender while dating an EMT named Yvonne, played by Zoë Kravitz. Their low-key romance is one of the only steady things in his life, until Hank agrees to cat-sit for his mohawked neighbor Russ (Matt Smith). That’s when the chaos hits. Two enforcers catch him leaving the apartment and assume he’s Russ, who they believe knows the whereabouts of $4 million in dirty money. The case of mistaken identity triggers a frantic chase through the city’s underbelly.
Aronofsky’s East Village isn’t just a backdrop, it’s a living, chaotic character. “It’s just filled with oddballs,” he tells Vanity Fair, and Butler echoes that the overnight shoots felt like “madness.” The film leans into this sense of unpredictability, from a wild incident involving a fire escape and a naked neighbor to the casting of bona fide neighborhood icons like Griffin Dunne. Aronofsky even shaved a couple of years off the novel’s timeline, anchoring the story in 1998, when surveillance tech wasn’t omnipresent and mischief was easier to get away with.
The ensemble cast is stacked: Regina King plays a no-nonsense NYPD detective trying to steer Hank straight. Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio are Orthodox Jewish brothers whose religious devotion doesn’t stop them from breaking the law. Bad Bunny, billed under his real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, plays a trigger-happy gangster named Colorado and caused such a stir on set, producers had to sneak him through back alleys to avoid crowds.
Though the premise is wild, Butler approached the role with seriousness. “Darren kept talking about how fun the movie was,” he says. “But the stuff I’m going through is not a lot of fun.” Still, that contrast between chaos and craft, comedy and crime makes Caught Stealing feel it could be a classic for Aronofsky.
Caught Stealing hits theaters August 29. Check out all of Vanity Fair’s first look images here.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
You may also like
-
Why Simon Pegg Will Never Resurrect ‘Shaun Of The Dead’
-
‘John Wick 5’ Update Offers Hope for Keanu Reeves’ Future in the Franchise
-
‘Mad Max: The Wasteland’ Still Happening? Tom Hardy Says Things are Being “Discussed”
-
Alex Garland to Direct Live-Action ‘Elden Ring’ Movie for A24
-
Sydney Sweeney Says Her ‘Barbarella’ Remake Is Coming Together Just Don’t Expect It for Awhile Yet