Lily James to Star in True Crime Thriller 'Peggy Jo' From Director Phillip Noyce

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“Baby Driver” and “Yesterday” star Lily James is set to star in the next film from director Phillip Noyce called “Peggy Jo,” a true-crime story that’s a “Bonnie and Clyde” style thriller, but with no Clyde.

James will play Peggy Jo Tallas, a real-life Texan who takes to robbing banks while posing as a man. The story is loosely based on the true story account and was adapted for the screen by “Appaloosa” writer Robert Knott.

The film will be shot on location in the southern U.S.

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Noyce’s movie is described as a playful take on the films of the ’70s and ’80s and will specifically be filled with references to George Roy Hill’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” a film that the character Peggy Jo Tallas grew up admiring and inspired her to assume her famous alter-ego “Cowboy Bob” and begin robbing banks. As she’s pursued by an FBI agent, she also falls in love with another damaged soul named Charlie who is similarly enchanted with adventurous stories, books and poetry. The full synopsis for the film is below.

“Peggy Jo” is produced by Simon Brooks through his Los Angeles-based production entity Canyon Creek Films. HanWay Films has picked up international sales rights and will introduce the project to the buyers at the upcoming Cannes Virtual Market. UTA Independent Film Group is handling the U.S. sale.

“I have been looking to make a movie with Phillip Noyce for years and ‘Peggy Jo’ is finally the one. It is a great emotive and thrilling story that will capture audiences worldwide,” Brooks said in a statement.

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“‘Peggy Jo’ is all about wanting more than your life presents to you and celebrates with a wink and a nod, many of our favourite films from the 70s through to the 80s, in tone, fun, music, colour and pure escapist entertainment, with a whole load of heart,” HanWay Films MD Gabrielle Stewart said in a statement.

Noyce is represented by UTA and attorney Wendy Kirk; James is represented by UTA and Tavinstock Wood.

Peggy Jo (James) is a unique beautiful person, prone to be romantically lost in books and films; however she is not the sort of person who lets life and people get the better of her. When her latest beau turns out to be married to his bank co-worker, she takes matters into her own hands, robbing his very bank disguised as a man with a big beard and a back-to-front cowboy hat. But it’s just too easy! Inspired by her love of stories such as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and eager to support her struggling family financially, Peggy Jo starts holding up a string of banks as her now famous alter-ego “Cowboy Bob”. She becomes more and more daring, hotly pursued by astute FBI agent Bishop. But along the way she loses her heart to damaged soul Charlie. Like Peggy, Charlie also seeks escape and solace in the fantasy world of books and poetry. As Bishop draws nearer and her love-story with Charlie is threatened, Peggy chooses, like her heroes, not to give up, but to go down in a blaze of glory. According to the FBI, the beautiful and rambunctious Peggy Jo Tallas was one of the most unusual bank robbers of her generation, always alone, without a partner to drive her getaway car and determined not to carry a weapon into any bank she robbed. Peggy Jo will be a playful take on her thrilling life and a celebration to the films from the 70s and 80’s filled with references to George Roy Hill’s Academy Award winner “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

Robert Redford's 15 Most Memorable Movies, From 'Butch Cassidy' to 'All Is Lost'

Robert Redford announced he was retiring from acting -- but still had a brief cameo in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame." TheWrap honors the great actor by looking back at 15 of his most memorable movies as both actor and director.

Redford has played just about every character, from a Western outlaw to a talented American skier.
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"Barefoot in the Park" (1967)

One of Redford's early films is an old fashioned romantic comedy starring Redford and Jane Fonda as two newlyweds who are complete opposites.
Paramount Pictures
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969)

Redford plays the outlaw Sundance Kid opposite Paul Newman's Butch Cassidy in this critically acclaimed Western that won four Academy Awards and is ranked as the 50th greatest American film by the American Film Institute.

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20th Century Fox
"Downhill Racer" (1969)

Redford plays an overly confident competitive skier who is incapable of understanding or being involved in anything but himself. Roger Ebert called it "the best movie ever made about sports -- without really being about sports at all."

Paramount
"The Candidate" (1972)

Redford plays a no-name Democratic senatorial candidate who is running in a race he can't possibly win, so he ends up saying whatever he wants during his campaign. This 1972 satirical film continues to be relevant.
Warner Bros
"The Way We Were" (1973)

A romantic drama about an activist Jew (Barbra Streisand) and a carefree WASP (Redford) who fall in love in the wake of World War II.

The film was a major box office success grossing just under $50 million domestically.

Also Read: Meryl Streep on Who Should Play Her on Film: ‘Amy Schumer, of Course’
Columbia Pictures
"The Sting" (1973)

Redford re-teamed with Paul Newman and received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as a con man in the Best Picture-winning film.
Universal Pictures
"Three Days of the Condor" (1975)

The cultural impact of this film can still be seen as it continues to be referenced in modern-day television and movies. It's about a bookish CIA agent (Redford) who returns to the office to find all his colleagues have been murdered.
Paramount Pictures
"All the President’s Men" (1976)

Arguably one of the best films of all time, the fact-based drama helped create a generation of journalists. Redford played Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward who teamed with Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) to report on the Watergate scandal that brought down the Richard Nixon presidency.
Warner Bros
"Ordinary People" (1980)

Redford's directorial debut earned him the Academy Award for Best Director -- and the film both Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay. Mary Tyler Moore was nominated for Best Actress for her role as an overbearing suburban mom.

Also Read: ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ Cast to Reunite on ‘Hot in Cleveland’
Paramount Pictures
"The Natural" (1984)

Redford stars as a legendary baseball player in an adaptation of Bernard Malamud's novel that earned four Oscar nominations.
TriStar Pictures
"Out of Africa" (1985)

In the Oscar-winning romantic drama loosely based on Karen Blixen's autobiographical book, Meryl Streep stars as an aristocratic woman who settles in Africa with her husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and falls for an area hunter (Redford).
"A River Runs Through It" (1992)

Redford returns to the director's chair in this critically acclaimed coming-of-age film set during World War I and the Great Depression. It stars a young Brad Pitt and was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Allied Filmmakers
"Quiz Show" (1994)

Redford picked up an Oscar nomination as Best Director for this film about the 1950s quiz show scandals, with Ralph Fiennes as a telegenic and WASPy college professor who's fed answers to keep him on the show longer.

Also Read: TBS Orders James Corden’s ‘Drop the Mic’ to Series
Buena Vista Pictures
"All Is Lost" (2013)

The film literally stars one person -- Robert Redford. The actor doesn't disappoint in the film about a man on a fancy sailboat that becomes disabled in a sudden storm at sea. The survival drama received rave reviews and made the Top 10 list of multiple critics.
Lionsgate
"The Old Man & the Gun" (2018)

Redford earned a Golden Globe nomination playing a real-life modern-day version of Sundance Kid, a criminal named Forrest Tucker who escaped from San Quentin at age 70 and then staged a series of bank heists.

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The actor has played everything from a Western outlaw to a talented American skier

Robert Redford announced he was retiring from acting -- but still had a brief cameo in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame." TheWrap honors the great actor by looking back at 15 of his most memorable movies as both actor and director.

Redford has played just about every character, from a Western outlaw to a talented American skier.

View In Gallery

Robert Redford's 15 Most Memorable Movies, From 'Butch Cassidy' to 'All Is Lost'

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