The Robber Has Legs; Sony Picks Up English Language Remake Rights to Der Rauber

Sony has made a low-figure development buy for the English-language remake rights to Austrian helmer Benjamin Heisenberg’s Der Rauber. We’re not sure if the new film will be going by the simple title of The Robber, but we do know that Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin is heading the project.

Gist: Obviously the remake won’t attempt to use the true story nature of the original or stick close to the original source material, but as far as double persona angle, they’ll have no choice to think a long-distance version of Carl Lewis on U.S soil. The original was about Johann Rettenberger, a successful marathon runner and a serial bank robber. Soberly and precisely he measures his heart rate, strain, stamina and efficiency – both during training runs and bank raids, from which, concealed beneath a ludicrous mask and armed with a pump gun, he takes flight from the police. He lives, undiscovered, with his girlfriend Erika in Vienna. However, his addiction to the passion, the kick, the exercise and the symmetry of the perfect robbery propels him to take off for a regular fix – as much as three times a day.

Worth Noting: The original film played at the Berlin Film Festival and made it’s way to NYFF where our own Sean Glass reviewed the film. There’s lots of running folks. 

Do We Care?: Moderate interest on our parts, they’ll have to amp up the chase angles and make sure the use the original as a mere guide and not a full encompassing template. For those interested in seeing the original, Kino Interantional is releasing the film in 2011.