Evan Peters plays one of the ringleaders of the heist in American Animals
Forget all the heist movies in which thieves steal humdrum things like diamonds or Monets or coaxium. The big score in American Animals is something to get really excited about: rare books.
Based on a true story about a plot to relieve the library at Kentucky’s Transylvania University of its most valuable tomes (including a drool-worthy Havell edition of Audubon’s Birds of America), director Bart Layton’s first foray into scripted filmmaking is an odd mash-up of his usual documentary style and narrative storytelling.