Stephanie Hsu, Guy Pearce and Hannah Waddingham have been set to topline the crime-thriller The Teller, a UK-Irish co-production that is preparing to shoot in Northern Ireland before moving into post-production in the Republic of Ireland.
The film follows Violet, an overlooked bank teller whose life is upended when a rogue FBI agent manipulates her into robbing her own bank. The heist is only the opening move in a much bigger con, giving the project a scheme-within-a-scheme structure built around deception rather than brute force.
Ben Ripley is making his directorial debut with the project after writing the script, adding a new chapter to a career best known for Source Code, the sci-fi action-thriller he wrote for Jake Gyllenhaal and director Duncan Jones. The Teller is being produced by Martin Brennan for Teller Films UK alongside Jessica Malanaphy and Samantha Shear, while Altitude will handle international sales and introduce the film to buyers in Cannes. CAA Media Finance and Verve Ventures are handling domestic rights.
That packaging gives The Teller a fast start. With three cast members already attached, a crime story centered on a vulnerable lead and a con that widens beyond the first robbery, the film is being pitched with the kind of commercial hooks that travel well in the market. The Usual Suspects and The Town are the obvious touchstones, but Ripley’s pitch is built to stand on its own: a bank teller who thinks she is committing one crime and is really being pulled into something larger.
The next test comes in Cannes, where Altitude is set to take the project to buyers. If the film lands the backing it is seeking, the production should move toward a shoot in Northern Ireland and later post-production in the Republic of Ireland, turning a script about misdirection into an actual production path that is already in motion.
