EXCLUSIVE: We can tell you first that Sony Pictures Classics has snapped up global rights to MRC and T-Street‘s John Turturro crime thriller The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, which world premiered at Sundance and recently played Berlin. A fall theatrical release is in the works.
The movie from writer-director Noah Segan reps Sony Pictures Classics’ third acquisition out of the festival after Stephanie Ahn’s Bedford Park and Josef Kubota Wladyka’s Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty.
Sony Pictures Classics
The movie follows Harry Lehman (Turturro), an aging pickpocket who plies his trade with ever-diminishing returns in a drastically changed New York. Wallets stuffed with cash have been replaced by easily canceled credit cards, and Harry struggles to make ends meet as he cares for his disabled wife, Rosie (Karina Arroyave). When he unwittingly purloins and fences a valuable USB stick, Harry finds himself in a race against time to return the loot or face the rage of a vengeful crime family. Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, Tatiana Maslany, Victoria Moroles and Steve Buscemi also star. Watch our interview above with Segan, Turturro, Buscemi, Price and Esposito here:
In his review out of Park City, Deadline film critic Damon Wise said that Turturro in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York “steals the show” and called the crime pic “a wonderfully acted love letter to the Manhattan indies that dominated the ’80s. It’s an early call, but next year’s under-the-radar awards season may well start here; get in early and put Turturro on the ticket.”
MRC financed The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, with T-Street’s Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman producing with Katie McNeill, Leopold Hughes and Ben LeClair producing and Johnson and Bergman executive producing. Johnny Holland also was an EP.
“Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket is one of the great New York movies ever, featuring John Turturro in the finest performance of his career, and it’s a glorious entertainment,” Sony Pictures Classics said. “It will be a big hit this fall with audiences everywhere.”
Said Segan: “As a multi-generational New Yorker, capturing the soul and energy of our city was a requirement for The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. No one embodies that vibe more than John Turturro. Working alongside his legendary friends and colleagues like Steve Buscemi and Giancarlo Esposito, actors who have defined New York cinema throughout their careers, gave us the authenticity that New York demands. Alongside our crew, we managed to make discoveries in our own backyard, through fellowship and shared history. It is a great honor to partner with Sony Pictures Classics in bringing the movie to audiences. Tom, Michael and their team are legends in their own right, iconically supporting the sort of sincerity and care we’ve put into the film.”
The film was negotiated between Sony Pictures Classics and MRC.