British actor Anthony Hopkins is confirmed as the star of a new film about the 1983 kidnapping of brewery heir Freddy Heineken.

The film will also star Jim Sturgess, Sam Worthington, Ryan Kwanten, Dutch actor Mark van Eeuwen and Australian newcomer Tom Cocquerel, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The film will be directed by Sweden’s Daniel Alfredson who is best known for directing two parts of the Millennium Trilogy: The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.

Heineken and his chauffeur were kidnapped after leaving work and held for three weeks in a warehouse. They were rescued following a tip-off after the kidnappers were given a ransom of 35 million guilders.

Money

The gang was eventually rounded up and jailed although around 20% of the money has never been recovered.

A Dutch film version of the book, starring Rutger Hauer as Heineken, was released in 2011. That film hit the headlines when one of the kidnappers, Willem Holleeder, tried to have it banned, saying the film made him out to be more violent than he was.

Filming on the new version will start in Belgium later this month before moving to Amsterdam and New Orleans, the Hollywood Reporter said.