KIDNAPPING MR. HEINEKEN Trailer

The inside story of the planning, execution, rousing aftermath and ultimate downfall of the kidnappers of beer tycoon Alfred “Freddy” Heineken, which resulted in the largest ransom ever paid for an individual.

Director: Daniel Alfredson
Writers: William Brookfield, Peter R. de Vries (author)
Stars: Sam Worthington, Jim Sturgess, Anthony Hopkins

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is scheduled to open in cinemas in the U.S. on March 6, 2015. For more opening dates, click here. More information

As a Dutchie myself, I’m a bit amused that this story is being turned into a high-profile Hollywood movie, though I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, since everyone in the whole world knows the brand, Heineken. They probably don’t know that the founder of the enormous beer corporation, Freddy Heineken, was kidnapped in the 80’s, and that this was a huge criminal case in The Netherlands that got lots of press coverage.

One thing that looks positive, is that they filmed the movie in the actual, right, country (Hollywood has failed on that front with The Netherlands before), and I’m curious to see whether anyone’s going to be speaking Dutch (doesn’t look like it, from the trailer, but at least they won’t be confusing Dutch for Deutsch, that is, German). In any case, it’s kind of odd to see these famously notorious people, like Willem Holleeder (Sam Worthington), speak English, when these characters have been part of the news for my whole life.

By the way, did you know the Dutch already made a movie of the Heineken Kidnapping in 2011, with Rutger Hauer as Heineken?

What do you think – does this have any chance of succeeding? Will you be seeing it?

I’ll definitely be checking it out. I can’t wait to see Hopkins and Worthington hopping around in Amsterdam.

(top image source: Alchemy)