Director Stu Stone and producing partner Adam Rodness want you to know that the $250,000 worth of camera and lighting equipment that was stolen on their first day of filming for their independent comedy Vandits—about small-time thieves trying to steal a senior citizens’ bingo hall of its $25,000 jackpot on Christmas Eve—was not a publicity stunt.
“There is a vacant parking spot. The vehicle is not here. Where is the truck, really? In Winnipeg, Manitoba, in October 2021, Stone remembers asking glum-faced members of the production team as he stood in front of a truck and trailer that had all of his film equipment the previous evening.
The Toronto-based filmmakers’ last film, Faking a Murderer, a 2020 docu-comedy in which Stone and Rodness probe into a shady man they mistakenly think is a serial murderer but isn’t, may have given the impression that it was a prank.
Everyone thus believed Stone and Rodness had concocted another fake when they reported the theft to the police and made an emotive internet appeal for the recovery of their vehicle and video equipment. “Everybody believed that we were lying. Our relatives believed we were lying,
When Stone and Rodness began receiving emails and phone calls from individuals claiming to be holding the truck and trailer for ransom, their Vandits shoot become even weirder. “Some person really wrote in and offered to provide the location of the trailer in exchange for $300 sent to his email address. Rodness relates, “I know where it is.
After the Royal Canadian Mounted Police intervened to look into the ransom demands, Stone and Rodness were able to provide a police report to a national newscast to demonstrate that this was not a Hollywood marketing ploy.
Stone and Rodness were able to start filming Vandits once the local Winnipeg production community, including equipment provider William F. White International, stepped in to provide new equipment. “We did ultimately film the movie using the equipment we had. The fact that it was even created is a marvel, says Stone.
