Insights from the Cinematic World: European Film Company

Perhaps most compelling to screenwriter William Brookfield and the producers was the fact that kidnappers were not hardened criminals. They never physically harmed Heineken, and they were not part of any organized crime group. The arduous writing process first resulted in a detailed, sixty‐three page outline. Over the next two years, Brookfield and the producers went through several drafts until the final screenplay was locked.

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken

Based on crime journalist Peter R. de Vries’s account of what has been called “the most notorious kidnapping of the 20th Century,” Kidnapping Mr. Heineken explores the abduction of Dutch brewery magnate Freddy Heineken (Anthony Hopkins) and his chauffeur, Ab Doderer, who were kidnapped in 1983 and held for what was the largest ransom at the time.

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