According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jeff Wadlow has inked a deal with Focus Features to direct and co-write a ripped-from-the-headlines action heist film, Hail to the Thief, in which a bank robber uses the 2004 George W. Bush/John Kerry Iowa primary showdown to outfox a distracted police force.

Wadlow co-wrote the screenplay with the project's producer, Beau Bauman. Their story is loosely based on three similar bank robberies that happened on the same night Bush and Democratic opponent Kerry hosted dueling campaign parties in August 2004. This new fictional caper weaves in elements of political satire as it follows one novice criminal's quest to outfox an overwhelmed Iowan police force and rob several banks with his equally amateurish friends.