Ben Stiller Pulls Off A "Trump Heist"

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

Ben Stiller is in talks join the cast of "Trump Heist" (aka. "Tower Heist") for Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment.

According to the LA Times:  The film (which may eventually be called "Tower Heist"--that pesky legal department) is about a group of con men who devise a plan to swindle the residents of New York's upscale Trump Tower, where they also work.

Various actors and writers have been involved in the project at one time or another. Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and Chris Tucker were once set to co-star, while "Inside Man" writer Russell Gewirtz, "Dodgeball" scribe Rawson Marshall Thurber and "Ocean's Eleven" writer Ted Griffin have all had a crack at the script.

Stiller is in talks to play the lead heist-man, the role Murphy would have played. A new draft will be penned to take it in a direction more fitting his talents.

Sources say that the studio has brought on Noah Baumbach ("The Squid and the Whale") to work on the latest draft. Baumbach just recently directed Stiller in the upcoming "Greenberg,” out later this spring.

Anything that Ben Stiller is in gets me interested, but now that Noah Baumbach will do a re-write? Count me in. I have always been a fan of the “Ocean” films, so this movie is right up my alley. I also like the New York setting, which should make for some fun moments between Stiller and his crew.

Director Brett Ratner has long been attached to helm the film.