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PRODUCTION Spain

Jaume Balagueró robs the Bank of Spain in The Vault

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- The director is in the Spanish capital over the next few days to film this ambitious action flick, revolving around a heist at the national bank located in the heart of Madrid

Jaume Balagueró robs the Bank of Spain in The Vault
Sam Riley, José Coronado, Jaume Balagueró, Luis Tosar and Freddie Highmore in a promotional photo for The Vault (© Javier Biosca)

The Bank of Spain is housed in an imposing building at the crossroads of the Calle de Alcalá and the Paseo del Prado, just in front of the Cibeles Fountain, slap bang in the middle of Madrid. A few days ago, Catalan filmmaker Jaume Balagueró (Muse [+see also:
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) managed to get permission to close off this crucial area of the capital to traffic in order to film a batch of exterior location shots for The Vault [+see also:
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. In these scenes, with the help of hundreds of extras, he recreated the impromptu local celebrations that took place in that very location following the victory of the Spanish football team in the South African World Cup in July 2010. In fact, in the fictional story that unfolds in the film, a gang of thieves takes advantage of this moment of collective euphoria to slip unnoticed among the crowds in an attempt to steal the loot ensconced in the bank.

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This is the outline of the screenplay for The Vault, penned by Andrés KoppelBorja González SantaolallaRafael MartínezMichel Gaztambide and Rowan Athale, which will be brought to life by a cast – speaking both Spanish and English – comprising Freddie Highmore (The Journey [+see also:
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), Astrid Bergès-Frisbey (The Sex of Angels [+see also:
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), José Coronado (Tu hijo [+see also:
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), Liam Cunningham (The Childhood of a Leader [+see also:
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), Sam Riley (Suite Française [+see also:
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), Luis Tosar (Gun City [+see also:
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]
), Emilio Gutiérrez Caba (Brava [+see also:
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interview: Roser Aguilar
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]
), Axel Stein (My Brother Simple [+see also:
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), Daniel Holguín (The Sleeping Voice [+see also:
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) and Famke Janssen (Family Heist [+see also:
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).

According to the synopsis provided by the producers, The Vault will tell the story of how “the Bank of Spain is completely different to any other financial institution. It is so utterly impenetrable that nobody has ever been able to rob it; there are no blueprints, nor any other information about it, nor is there anyone alive who knows what kind of monumental engineering methods were used to construct its vault more than 100 years ago. It’s a genuine mystery... But neither the laws of Spain nor the laws of physics can faze Thom Johnson (Highmore), a brilliant young engineer recruited to figure out how to crack the code and gain access to the wealth contained within. The booty they are after is a treasure that will be deposited there for a period of just ten days; barely any time at all to fathom the secret of the strongroom, hatch a plan, prepare the heist and take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime getaway plan, when the eagerly awaited final of the South African Football World Cup will bring together hundreds of thousands of fans at the gates of the one and only Bank of Spain… They have just ten days to attain glory… or end up behind bars.”

The Vault – principal photography for which began at the beginning of April and is set to wrap after a total of 11 weeks in the Community of Madrid and on the Spanish coast – is a production by Telecinco CinemaCiudadano CiskulThink Studio and El Tesoro de Drake AIE, with the involvement of Mediaset España and Movistar Plus+, as well as Freddie Highmore himself. French company TF1 Studio will be in charge of its international sales. The film’s Spanish distribution will be overseen by Sony Pictures Entertainment Iberia.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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