Optimum Releasing, the distributors for the Oscar-winning film The Hurt Locker, have taken a second option on the film rights for Kidnapping Ronnie, by Patrick King & Tudor Gates.

The book tells the true story about a group of former soldiers who were sent on a covert mission to kidnap the notorious Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs, from Brazil in 1981 – one of the most spectacular capers in British criminal folklore.

Optimum Releasing and their parent company, StudioCanal, are showing increasing enthusiasm for the project, and all indications point to the making of a major film (with at least one star name attached). Pre-production should start within the next 18 months.