Equipment theft hits Winnipeg heist film

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This article was published 15/11/2021 (1474 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The makers of a comedy heist movie in production in Winnipeg have become victims of a robbery themselves.

Crew working on Vandits, a feature film about a group of thieves targeting a bingo hall, had a pickup truck and trailer stolen, along with $250,000 worth of movie equipment packed inside the trailer, overnight Sunday.

“Yes, I can see the irony,” director Stu Stone, a filmmaker with four decades of experience making or acting in movies, said Monday. “We lost all of the equipment you could possibly need to make a movie.

“We are pretty frantic now trying to find equipment… There’s a lot of production going on in Winnipeg right now. Everybody is using everything, but we’re also hoping for a miracle that the equipment is found.”

The movie, which is scheduled to begin production Tuesday, is produced by Stone and his brother-in-law, Adam Rodness, and their company 5’7 Films.

It stars Tony Nappo (Four Brothers, Saw II, IV and V, CBC TV series Strays), and features singer/actress Jann Arden.

The pickup truck and trailer were loaded Sunday night, and then parked in a driveway in a residential area, Stone said. On Monday morning, the driveway was empty and the film producers called police.

The trailer was filled with lighting gear, camera mounts and other various equipment.

“The police are taking it seriously, but at first people thought it was a joke. One of our previous films was faking a murder, like a Borat true crime movie, so a lot of people said we’re just being really funny,” Stone said.

“But this is no joke — it’s not an ideal situation. It is shocking.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca