Thomas Napper’s darkly comic period heist The Man Who Stole Portugal, starring James Nelson Joyce, has started production in the UK, Portugal and South Africa for the UK’s EMU Films and international sales agent Beta Cinema.
Emily Fairn, Joel Fry, Herbert Nordrum, Kim Bodnia, Nia Towle, Richard E. Grant and Dominic West. co-star in the film. Fairn was named a Screen UK-Ireland Star of Tomorrow in 2023.
The film is written by Richard Galazka, inspired by the titular true crime book by Murray Teigh Bloom, first published in 1953.
In a story that moves from 1920s Lisbon to colonial Angola and the elite printing houses of London, Joyce plays Alves Reis, a man determined to give his wife Maria and their family the life they deserve. He begins to invent his way upwards, with his biggest bluff becoming one of the greatest cons in history.
EMU’s Michael Elliott producers, with Walli Ullah, Jim Mooney and Terry Smith as executive producers. Smith is also financing through Moviedrome.
“What makes the story so thrilling is watching an outsider learn how to open those doors, bluff by bluff, and for a while make the system work for him,” said Napper. “It’s outrageous and funny, but it also speaks to something very current: who gets access, who gets shut out, and what people will do to cross that line.”
“The Man Who Stole Portugal gives audiences the thrill of a great heist movie, but with a true story so outrageous you can hardly believe it happened,” said Elliott. “It’s funny, stylish and full of momentum, with a character at its centre who is impossible not to watch.”
Smith described the story as “remarkably prescient - the shockwaves it sent through the Portuguese economy, and the political collapse that followed, find strong echoes in the money printing by central banks during the 2008–09 financial crisis and Covid.”
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