Alexandra Daddario Joins True-Crime Heist with Kitsch

A familiar face steps into a darker story. Alexandra Daddario has officially signed on to The Long Island Bank Robber, a true-crime heist headed by Taylor Kitsch and featuring Christopher Walken—an uneasy tale that critics are already likening to Breaking Bad.

It’s the kind of casting that makes you sit up. Daddario arrives fresh from an Emmy-nominated turn as Rachel Patton in HBO’s The White Lotus, and she’s no stranger to genre-hopping: Percy Jackson’s Annabeth Chase, True Detective’s Lisa Tragnetti, the gothic turns in Mayfair Witches, a splash of Baywatch, and even voice work in Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths. Short bio. Long range.

In this film she’ll play Jane Trantl, the intelligent, observant wife whose life slowly unravels as her husband’s secret world tightens around them. Taylor Kitsch portrays Steven Trantl, a former commodities trader dismissed from Wall Street who—according to the true story—morphed into one of Long Island’s most notorious bank robbers. Christopher Walken is cast as Steven’s father, a retired cop with an ironclad moral code that poses a real threat to the family’s cover.

Matthew Gentile directs and co-wrote the screenplay with Bianca Vera, adapting material from the nonfiction book Til Heist Does Us Apart by John Callahan and Michael Harvey. Production is slated to begin this month in New Jersey, and VanEast Pictures has already secured international sales rights ahead of the American Film Market.

Why the Breaking Bad comparisons? Because both stories hinge on a familiar, chilling arc: an ordinary man, pushed and then enticed by crime, who finds success in a world he never planned to enter. The parallel grows when you add a perceptive spouse who discovers the truth and an ex-law-enforcement family member who could unravel everything. Still, Gentile insists the film aims for more than surface thrills. "The Long Island Bank Robber tells a true story I first learned about as a young fan of true-crime cases," he said. "On the surface it’s a taut heist picture, but at its core it explores grief, survival and marriage. I couldn’t imagine better actors than Taylor, Alexandra and Christopher to bring these characters to life."

Daniel Gusher, founder and CEO of VanEast Pictures and a producer on the project, added that the film combines a gripping, real-world script with strong direction and a high-profile cast—ingredients that should sell well at market and, later, to audiences hungry for intelligent true-crime drama.

Gentile’s previous feature, American Murderer (2022), earned a solid 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, and his return to true-crime storytelling suggests he’s building a niche. Expect moral complications, tight atmosphere, and performances that pull you uneasy and close.

Production updates will follow as cameras roll in New Jersey, but for now the most intriguing question lingers: how far will one man go before the life he built collapses under the weight of his choices?