Though every week it seems Tom Sizemore leads enough straight-to-DVD releases for video stores (remember those?) to devote a new release wall in his honor, he still manages to sneak a theatrical appearance in occasionally. His latest, “Cellmates” may not have been the return he (or anyone) was hoping for, but after signing on to star in Peter Bogdanovich's “John Ledger,” the actor is now working multiple roles putting together a crime drama that could pull his career together.
Polimedia Films have announced Sizemore will both exec produce and star in “An Honest Thief,” from a script by his brother Aaron Sizemore, and the actor's already expressed a keen interest on two specific people for his cast. In a recent interview with We Got This Covered, Sizemore said, “We're hoping Woody [Harrelson] will be in the movie and we're trying to get Ryan Phillippe too. Woody is 50/50 right now and we're going to talk to Ryan next week.” If they agree, they'll join actor Thomas Jane, who's currently confirmed to star in the film alongside Sizemore.
The drama revolves around three petty thieves living in the Boyle Heights section of L.A., who hatch a plan to rip off a local pawnbroker and steal his valuable baseball card collection. However, the pawnbroker, who goes by the name Honest Abe, also happens to be a serial killer/sexual sadist, and as Abe's world collides with the thieves, all sorts of bloody mayhem seems fated to follow.
Frankly, Sizemore certainly needs a hit at this point in his career, and with Phillippe currently in production on his directorial debut, and Harrelson experiencing his first real franchise role in “The Hunger Games,” it's debatable whether they'll find Sizemore's project a worthy effort. Still, the production is hoping for a five-week shoot in L.A., so the short window of time could seem appealing for “An Honest Thief” to transcend its middling plotline, and deliver a worthy film that will skip Netflix its first week of release.