THE ROAD TO CRIME 101
“Laws are made to be broken, with rules that are made to be followed.”
— Don Winslow, Crime 101 (Novella)
These opening lines from the celebrated writer’s novella set the tone for writer-director-producer Bart Layton’s pulse-pounding big-screen adaptation about a jewel thief whose last job may become more final than he realizes.
Alluring, exciting and effortlessly cool, Crime 101 is a neo-noir love letter to Los Angeles and its high-gloss, high-stakes way of life, as well as an homage to sophisticated cinematic thrillers of yesteryear. In the all-star ensemble led by Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry and Mark Ruffalo, the balance between right and wrong, haves and have-nots, and life and death itself races along a broken white line that tends to make sharp and unexpected turns.
Hemsworth stars as Davis, a prolific jewel thief whose precision-planned series of heists up and down the Southern California coast have baffled law enforcement and frustrated gem merchants — as well as their insurance adjusters. Someone has to pay, but as long as Davis successfully eludes them, it won’t be him.
There is an emotional toll to his illicit success, however. A life of crime has left him with virtually no one to trust, no close relationships and no one who truly knows him. Although he operates as a kind of gentleman thief, working carefully to ensure no one is physically hurt during his holdups, his underworld rivals don’t follow the same code. And he may be fair game for them, too.
Berry plays Sharon Coombs, a high-end claims adjuster who has dedicated her life to selling peace of mind to the wealthy elite of Los Angeles, underwriting the most extravagant treasures that unspeakable amounts of money can buy. When these adornments go missing, it’s her firm that bears the cost — and her reputation that takes the hit in an insurance company that doesn’t like paying out on big losses.
There are other complications. After years of being promised a partnership, she has come to realise she is merely being used as bait to lure wealthy clients with her glamorous looks. She fears that when her usefulness expires, she will be tossed aside.
Mark Ruffalo’s LAPD investigator, Detective “Lou” Lubesnik, has little appreciation for glittery baubles, but he does value the law above all else. He begins to perceive an escape pattern down the 101 freeway that links the various thefts, but his conclusions merely irk supervisors who prefer clearing cases off department ledgers to actually solving them.
All three of their lives intersect as Davis sets up a new job after another nearly goes wrong. He’s starting to see that this life is untenable, but he believes there’s a way out with one final big score. This time, he’s targeting not only an array of diamonds being shipped in for the bridal party at an opulent Beverly Hills wedding, but also the multi-million-dollar stacks of cash intended to pay for them.
As Davis targets the transaction, desperate rivals begin circling. Both Coombs and Lubesnik make critical decisions of their own that further complicate the situation, putting all their livelihoods — not to mention their lives — at risk.
As with Crime 101, Layton’s previous work has often focused on people who live outside the law or betray social norms to take what they believe they are owed.
Among his credits is the acclaimed 2012 documentary The Imposter, about a young con artist who infiltrates a Texas family by pretending to be their son who disappeared as a child. Layton also wrote and directed the 2018 dramatic film American Animals, based on a true story about college students who stage an ill-fated heist of priceless rare books.
Layton has said he has always been fascinated by people who are “trying to steal for themselves an alternate version of what their lives might be.”
For Crime 101, he saw an ideal setting in the status-obsessed city of Los Angeles, where what you have is very often confused with who you are.
“I felt like many of the characters are slightly trapped in that sense of ‘I’m never going to feel good about my place in the world unless I have this,’” Layton says. “L.A. is a place that really nurtures the idea that if you want to be somebody and feel like you have value, you need all the external trappings of great success. I think status anxiety is a constant thing.”
Layton said he was also inspired by a lifelong love of classic heist thrillers such as Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight(1998), Michael Mann’s Thief (1980), The Sting, and Norman Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair (1968).
“They were grown-up movies,” he says. “They had real characters and were tonally complex — not simply a comedy, a drama or a thriller. They had light and shade. I definitely thought it would be nice to remind people that those are still great experiences to have in the cinema.”
A shared fandom for those old-school heist dramas is what drew Hemsworth to Crime 101.
“I read the script and loved it because it felt like a real throwback to ’90s thrillers,” Hemsworth says. “There was a sort of nostalgia to the story that you don’t see too much these days. I was a fan of Bart’s work and loved American Animals. It was a very character-driven drama with elaborate, intersecting storylines. After our first meeting, I thought not only has he written an incredibly compelling script, but he also has a brilliant vision for the film.”
To bring that vision to the screen, Layton joined veteran producer Eric Fellner, co-chair of Working Title Films, whose decades of credits include The Substance, Darkest Hour, Baby Driver, Fargo, and The Bridget Jones franchise.
Fellner helped assemble an array of A-list performers and behind-the-scenes crew to craft Crime 101 with both humanity and intensity.
“You can talk about them being a great cast in terms of their names, but they’re also phenomenal actors,” Fellner says. “Every single one of them brings their character into the world beautifully.”
“I found it inspiring how good everybody was on the film, and that goes from in front of the camera to behind it,” Fellner adds. “There is unbelievable production design, cinematography, costume, hair and makeup, editing, music — just every aspect.”
The result is a passion project for all involved, one that Fellner hopes will resonate with audiences.
“When you’re making something, the hope from a producer is that audiences will lean in, emotionally engage and, at the end, breathe out a huge sigh of joy and go: ‘Wow, that was great.’”
To win one of five in-season double passes to Crime 101, send a email to with “C101” in the subject line. One entry per person – and winners have to live in South East Queensland. Include your best postal address and good luck – winners will be notified by return email.