Michael B. Jordan’s “Thomas Crown Affair” may be a fresh take on the classic heist story, but its writing credits reach back to an earlier incarnation. TheWrap has learned that Kurt Wimmer and Leslie Dixon, who wrote the 1999 remake, will receive screenplay credit alongside Drew Pearce.
The new film, starring and directed by Jordan, is set to hit theaters March 5, 2027, courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.
The story first hit the screen in 1968, starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. The 1999 remake swapped in Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, with Wimmer and Dixon handling the screenplay. Alan Trustman, who wrote the original film, will receive a “story by” credit on the new version alongside Joe Carnahan, who wrote an earlier draft.
What makes this credit so strange – bordering on unprecedented – is the fact that Dixon and Wimmer had nothing to do with this reimagined version. But the Writers Guild of America still awarded them screenplay credit. You would imagine that they would have received story by credit, alongside Trustman, but they are getting full screenplay credit, next to Pearce.
The credits will make their debut in a trailer and poster for 2027’s “Thomas Crown Affair,” set to be released later this week.
We can think of one somewhat similar example: Joseph Stefano, who received a screenplay credit on Gus Van Sant’s 1998 remake of “Psycho,” despite the film being a largely shot-for-shot recreation of Alfred Hitchcock’s original. Of course, Stefano had also written the original screenplay and was hired to polish and update it for the remake. (He even discussed the new version publicly ahead of its release.)
It’s possible Wimmer and Dixon are receiving screenplay credit because their version of “The Thomas Crown Affair” shifted the titular antihero, a playboy with a lust for danger, from a bank robber in the 1968 film to an art thief in the 1999 remake. Based on the marketing materials for the new “Thomas Crown Affair,” Crown (Jordan) is stealing artwork again. It remains unclear what other elements of the 1999 film made their way into the new version, or what specific similarities informed the screenplay-credit decision. Trustman, who wrote the original 1968 film, is also receiving a “story by” credit, while Carnahan, who wrote an earlier draft of the new film, is being credited as well.
The implications could be significant for screenwriters going forward, particularly if this new “Thomas Crown Affair” becomes an example of writers receiving screenplay credit despite having no involvement in the modernized version. Jason Hall, a screenwriter who was credited on the first poster and trailer for the new film, could lose his screenplay credit, leaving him with only an executive producer designation. He could even end up with a credit in the no-man’s land of “additional literary material,” which typically appears near the end of a film’s credits and carries fewer benefits than a formal screenplay credit.
“The Thomas Crown Affair,” which also stars Kenneth Branagh, Adria Arjona, Lily Gladstone, Danai Gurira and Pilou Asbæk, arrives in theaters March 5, 2027.
