'Requiem for a Dream' director Darren Aronofsky returns with a crime drama

After the emotionally devastating The Whale with Brendan Fraser, director Darren Aronofsky is back with something more lighthearted, in the form of Caught Stealing, starring Austin Butler, in a screen adaptation of the Charlie Huston book of the same name, penned by the author himself.  

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Aronofsky recalls feeling stuck after the release of The Whale and its lead actor Brendan Fraser's Best Actor Oscar win. On the Charlie Huston script which he had considered doing at some point in the last 15 years, Aronofsky said he felt like doing something more entertaining compared to his most recent 'angsty' films: "There was just so much tension in our normal lives that I felt like the one thing that Hollywood has always done great is entertain. I looked at my projects and I said, ‘You know what? The most fun one I have is Charlie’s script,” said Aronofsky.

Caught Stealing is said to be influenced by Martin Scorsese's After Hours, and is set in the 1990s when there were no surveillance and smartphones. Aronofsky describes the script as one filled with "oddballs," which conveys the "peculiarity of shooting in East Village."

Austin Butler plays a "once-promising" ball player who works at a bar. He then becomes a target of criminals seeking the whereabouts of "$4 million of laundered mob money" in a clear case of mistaken identity. Zoe Kravitz plays his girlfriend — a strong, supportive, and caring woman.

In the interview, Butler calls himself a fan of Aronofsky, professing his love for Requiem for a Dream, which he watched when he was "11 or 12."

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