A new film, ‘Evil Genius,’ directed by Courteney Cox, dramatizes the 2003 “Pizza Bomber” bank heist case. The film stars Patricia Arquette as Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and David Harbour as Bill Rothstein.
The 2003 Erie, Pennsylvania case involved a plot to rob a bank using a pizza delivery driver as a hostage fitted with a fake collar bomb. The heist failed, and the bomb detonated, killing the delivery driver. The four-part 2018 Netflix series, *Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist*, previously documented the events.
Arquette portrays Diehl-Armstrong, who conspired to have her father killed after he emptied her late mother’s safety deposit box of $1 million she believed was promised to her. To fund the hit, she pitched a bank heist to her ex-partner, Rothstein, played by Harbour. Rothstein initially protested, stating, “We can’t rob a bank. I’m 60 and you’re not Thelma or Louise.”
The scheme involved recruiting a pizza delivery man whose neck was the correct size for Rothstein’s collar bomb. The film also features Michael Chernus as Marjorie’s fishing buddy, Ken Barnes, who operates a crack house. The film premiered at TIFF and is currently seeking distribution. Screenwriter Courtenay Miles also penned the second season of the Netflix crime series *Mindhunter*. Cox and Miles aimed to embrace the chaos of the source material while also establishing a clear narrative.
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