Robert Redford Teams With ‘Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’ Filmmaker for Crime Drama (Exclusive)

David Lowery, the man behind the buzz-catching Sundance movie Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, is teaming up with screen icon Robert Redford for another crime movie.

Lowery is attached to adapt and direct The Old Man and the Gun, based on a 2003 article in The New Yorker written by David Grann.

Redford is attached to star and will produce the adaptation with Bill Holderman and Conde Nast’s Jeremy Steckler. Also producing is Identity Films’ Anthony Mastromauro. 

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Old Man tells the true story of Forrest Tucker, a man born in 1920 who, as a lifelong bank robber, spent most of his life in jail or escaping from jail. (He had 18 escapes under his belt, including one from Alcatraz and one from San Quentin.)

The article focused on Tucker at age 78, living in a retirement community with his third wife and still having the hankering to rob banks. In fact, he was caught by police after a robbery and high-speed chase in 2000 and sentenced to 13 years. He died in 2005. 

Lowery’s take focuses on a specific time period in Tucker’s life, though details were not revealed.

The project has fascinated Hollywood during the past decade. At one point It was set up at Warner Bros. and had Wolfgang Petersen on board as a director. It also was being developed by producer

Redford has his thriller The Company You Keep, which he directed and stars in with Shia LaBeouf, out in limited release from Sony Pictures Classics. And just last week he began production on his first comic book movie, Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. 

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Redford is repped by WME and Jackoway Tyerman.

Old Man is Lowery’s first film as director since Saints’ Sundance debut. That crime drama, which stars Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara, also deals with an escaped outlaw and his relations. It was described by critics as a crime saga by way of an art film, with THR’s Todd McCarthy comparing the director to Terrence Malick. IFC picked up Saints at Sundance and will release it Aug. 16.

Lowery, who also recently has booked a gig to reimagine Pete’s Dragon for Disney, is repped by WME and Frankfurt Kurnit.