Noyce in talks to make ‘Money’

Maybe it’s just because people are intrigued by the crime life, but director Phillip Noyce is in talks with DreamWorks Pictures to direct The Art of Making
Money.

While Noyce is eyeing many projects, he hasn’t been as busy as Art Williams, the subject of “The Art of Making Money”.

Williams (a bogus name) got into the bill-counterfeiting business like many other kids – through their families. Williams’ stepfather, “Da Vinci” used an offset printer to counterfeit bills and taught Williams his methods. Williams’ operation grew until the introduction of the 1996 $100 bill. Now constrained by the new anti-counterfeiting security features, Williams made it his mission to crack the bill’s tough façade. It was a Sisyphean effort.

A Rolling Stone article written by Jason Kersten in 2005 chronicles Williams’ techniques and compelling story. In it, Williams prizes his methods, many are quite ingenious and cutting-edge, and remains one of the last of a “dying breed” of old-school counterfeiters. After cracking the 1996 $100 bill, Williams told a story to Kersten about an FBI Agent who counted $3,300 of his fake notes and, frustrated, handed them all back.

Before Williams’ (second) arrest in 2006, he was estimated to have flooded the market with $10 million during nine years and continued to pump out an additional $112,000 while free on bail. Now, Williams is doing seven years in federal prison but was spared from giving up any windfalls from either this film or a forthcoming collaboration with Jason Kersten on a book of his life.

Australian, gruff and immensely tall, Noyce directed many critically-acclaimed works such as Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American and Catch A Fire. He has signed on to direct Phillip Roth’s American Pastoral and will next be releasing Mary Queen of
Scots with Scarlett Johansson.
Frank Baldwin attached himself to write the screenplay and Brian Robbins, of Varsity Pictures, is the producer.