“American Horror Story” star Evan Peters joked he wanted to know what it felt like to rob a convenience store with his real-life counterpart he portrays in the film, “American Animals.”
Peters plays Warren Lipka in Bart Layton’s movie — a hybrid of a fictionalized heist film and a documentary about four young men who tried to rob some priceless, rare books from a library in Kentucky. IRL Lipka serves as a charismatic, unpredictable and unreliable narrator of sorts in the film. He’s the ring leader of the lawless crew. And though Layton asked his actors not to interact with the feature’s real subjects, Peters said he embraced the spirit of the project and broke the rules.
“I was channeling Warren and I found Warren on Twitter, and messaged with him and started a correspondence, and one of the main things I wanted to ask him was, ‘Why? Why did you do this?’ I never really did ever get a straight answer from him,” Peters told TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman. “I had a buddy, he stole an air freshener from Wal-Mart. He got busted, so I was channeling that.”
But as one audience member at TheWrap’s Awards and Foreign Screening Series at the Landmark Theatres in Los Angeles pointed out Wednesday night, this isn’t exactly a laughing matter. Featured on TheWrap’s panel discussion for the film was Chas Allen, now a Los Angeles-based fitness instructor. But 14 years ago, when “American Animals” takes place, he was the getaway driver for the aforementioned band of thieves.
Allen, along with Lipka, Spencer Reinhard and Eric Borsuk, each spent seven years in federal prison for the robbery. An audience member told Allen during the Q&A that she had no sympathy for him or his crime and questioned if he was now profiting from appearing in the film and from a book he wrote about his experience, entitled “Mr. Pink.”
“I spent from the age of 20 through 26 in prison. And for the rest of my life I am a convicted felon. I understand how you feel, and you’re entitled to that, and I respect your opinion. But at the same time, this is something I have to live with and bear for the rest of my life, as I do.” Allen said. “That’s one of the things that really drew me to the project, is that it wasn’t a glorification or glamorization for these ultimately shameful things that I did that I’m not proud of.”
Director Layton also said it’s important his real-life subjects in “American Animals” won’t be using the film as a space to apologize or justify their actions.
“I didn’t feel like I needed to give them a platform for making excuses,” Layton said. “I wasn’t about to make them out to be heroes. I took what was relevant, and I distilled the characters in the best ways I thought I could, and at the same time, allowed them to be human but didn’t give them a platform for making it OK.”
Layton’s film grapples with why the four young men, all coming from wealthy upbringings and given privilege and opportunity in school and at home, felt so stuck in their lives that they felt the need to commit a felony. The movie frequently has the guys wondering if they should just face reality or get out while they’re ahead, even though their reality left little to be desired.
“This was a kid who’s main problem was that he didn’t have a problem,” Layton said. “That felt like a real modern thing, that he needed to have a story, that he needed to be a somebody. That was the thing for me that took it from being a mishap heist to being a story of rather lost young men who are looking in all the wrong places for meaning and identity.”
The beauty of “American Animals” and the panel discussion on Wednesday was that the audience didn’t have to speculate as to the real subjects’ motives. They could just ask. Allen clarified that he initially turned down the offer to rob the library, but after going through a divorce and some unexpected financial trouble, suddenly felt as lost in his life as his partners in crime.
“I felt I had too much to lose at the time. In my personal life and family life, I lost what I felt I had to lose. That was because I was given a lot of opportunity and privilege very early on,” Allen said. “I lost everything, and along with that, I lost my dreams and hope for the future I was envisioning.”
“American Animals” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018 and opened in theaters on Aug. 14. Watch a clip from the panel discussion featuring Layton, Peters and Allen above.
97 Sundance Portraits From TheWrap at Acura Studios With Keira Knightley, Robert Pattinson and More (Photos)
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Actress Chloë Sevigny, "Lizzie"
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"Lizzie" writer Bryce Kass, actor Denis O'Hare, director Craig William Macneill and actress Chloë Sevigny
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"Believer" director Don Argott with subjects Tyler Glenn and Dan Reynolds
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"What They Had" stars Taissa Farmiga, Michael Shannon, writer-director Elizabeth Chomko, Blythe Danner and Hilary Swank
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Actor Michael Shannon, "What They Had"
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Meg McGarry, Flynn McGarry, Cameron Yates and Laura Coxson, "Chef Flynn"
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Flynn McGarry, "Chef Flynn"
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Director Jesse Peretz, "Juliet, Naked"
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Actor Chris-O'Dowd, "Juliet, Naked"
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Director Eugene Jarecki, "The King"
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"An Evening With Beverly Luff Lin" director Jim Hosking with stars Aubrey Plaza, Matt Berry, Craig Robinson, and Jemaine Clement
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"Private Life" stars Kayli Carter and Kathryn Hahn with writer-director Tamara Jenkins
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Actress Kayli Carter, "Private Life"
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"Private Life" producer, Ali Abouomar
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"Eighth Grade" writer-director Bo Burnham and star Elsie Fisher
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Actress Kiersey Clemons, "Hearts Beat Loud"
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"Arizona" director Jonathan Watson with stars Luke Wilson, Elizabeth Gillies, Danny McBride, Lolli Sorenson, Kaitlin Olsen and Rosemarie Dewitt
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Actress Elizabeth Gillies, "Arizona"
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"Dead Pigs" director Cathy Yan with stars Li Meng, Zazie Beetz and David Rhysdahl
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Director Cathy Yan, "Dead Pigs"
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Actress Zazie Beetz, "Dead Pigs"
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Writer-actor Rafael Casal, director Carlos López Estrada, writer-actor Daveed Diggs, actors Janina Gavankar, Justin Chu Cory and Jasmine Cephas Jones, "Blindspotting"
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Jason Ritter, "The Tale"
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Actor Common, "The Tale"
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Isabella Amara, "The Tale"
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Writer-director-star Carlson Young, "The Blazing World"
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Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska, "Damsel"
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Actor Robert Pattinson, "Damsel"
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Actress Mia Wasikowska, "Damsel"
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Director Silas Howard, "A Kid Like Jake"
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Jim Parsons, "A Kid Like Jake"
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Actress Priyanka Chopra, "A Kid Like Jake"
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Claire Danes, "A Kid Like Jake"
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Actress Octavia Spencer, "A Kid Like Jake"
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Actors Jeffrey Wright, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and director Anthony Mandler, "Monster"
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Dominic West and Kiera Knightly, "Colette"
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Actress Kiera Knightly, "Colette"
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Actor John Cho, "Search"
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"The Kindergarten Teacher" director, Sara Colangelo and actress, Maggie Gyllenhaal
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"The Kindergarten Teacher" actress, Maggie Gyllenhaal
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"The Kindergarten Teacher" actress, Anna Baryshnikov
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Musician Aloe Blacc, "America's Musical Journey"
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Director Jessica Sanders, "End of the Line"
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Forest Whitaker, "Burden"
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Garrett Hedlund, "Burden"
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Director Talal Derki, "Of Fathers and Sons"
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Director, Boots Riley, "Sorry to Bother You"
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Lakeith Stanfield, "Sorry to Bother You"
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Armie Hammer, "Sorry to Bother You"
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Actor Jason Segel, "Come Sunday"
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Actress Condola Rashad, "Come Sunday"
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Director Stephen Maing, "Crime and Punishment"
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The young women of the "Skate Kitchen" skate collective, with director Crystal Moselle and co-star Jaden Smith, "Skate Kitchen"
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Jaden Smith, "Skate Kitchen"
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Actor Charlie Sexton, director Ethan Hawke, actress Alia Shawkat, actor Josh Hamilton, and acorr Ben Dickey, "Blaze"
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Director Ethan Hawke, “Blaze"
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Actress Alia Shawkat, “Blaze"
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Actor Ben Dickey, “Blaze"
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Charlie Sexton, “Blaze"
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"The Devil You Know" director Stephanie Soechtig and her four subjects
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Director Stephanie Soechtig, "The Devil You Know"
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Actress Hari Nef, writer-director Sam Levinson and actors Colman Domingo and Bill Skårsgard, "Assassination Nation"
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Bill Skårsgard, "Assassination Nation"
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Writer-director Sam Levinson, "Assassination Nation"
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Actor Coleman Damingo, "Assassination Nation"
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Actress Helena Howard, "Madeline's Madeline"
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Chris McGurk, CEO of Cinedigm
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Director David Wain, actors Domhnall Gleeson, Tom Lennon, and Emmy Rossum, "A Futile and Stupid Gesture"
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Emmy Rossum, "A Futile and Stupid Gesture"
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Domhnall Gleeson, "A Futile and Stupid Gesture"
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Director Brad Anderson, "Beirut"
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Raul Castillo, Jeremiah Zagar, Sheila Vand, and Justin Torres, "We the Animals"
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Author Justin Torres, "We the Animals"
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Actress Sheila Vand, "We the Animals"
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Actor Raul Castillo, "We the Animals"
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Actors Maia Mitchell and Cami Marrone with writer-director Augustine Frizzell, “Never Goin’ Back”
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Cami Morrone, “Never Goin’ Back”
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Actress Augustine Frizzell, "Never Goin' Back"
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Actress Maia Mitchell, "Never Goin' Back"
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Director Jack Henry Robbins and producer Tim Robbins, "Painting With Joan"
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Co-writer and star Franchesca Ramsey, "Franchesca"
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Producer Trey Ellis, "King in the Wilderness"
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Actors Valter Skarsgard, Lucian Charles Collier, Sky Ferreira, Jack Kilmer, director Jonas Akerlund, Wilson Gonzalez, and Rory Culkin, "Lords of Chaos"
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Actor Valter Skarsgard, "Lords of Chaos"
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Rory Culkin, "Lords of Chaos"
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"Lords of Chaos" star Wilson Gonzalez
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Director and co-writer Jonas Akerlund, "Lords of Chaos"
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Jack Kilmer, "Lords of Chaos"
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Joan Jett, "Bad Reputation"
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Director and co-writer Daryl Wein, "White Rabbit"
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Actor Graham Verchere, actor Rich Sommer, co-directors Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell, writers Matt Leslie and Stephen J. Smith, actress Tiera Skovbye, and actor Caleb Emery, "Summer of '84"
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Caleb Emery, "Summer of '84"
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Actress Tiera Skovbye, "Summer of '84"
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Actor Luis Gerardo Mendez, "Time Share"
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Actor Matthew Lillard, "Halfway There"
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Sarah Shahi, "Halfway There"
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Sundance 2018: Hilary Swank, Forest Whitaker and Armie Hammer among the stars shot by photographer Irvin Rivera in Park City
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