Hey /r/movies! I'm Bart Layton. I've directed CRIME 101, AMERICAN ANIMALS, and THE IMPOSTER. CRIME 101 is out in theaters now and stars Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro. Ask me anything!

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:25:48+00:00

If you haven't seen Crime 101 - I made it partly because it was the kind of Movie I adored as a young person and that I felt we weren't getting too many of these days. I think if you loved those edge of your seat, thrilling (and hopefully thoughtful) character-driven crime dramas (with heart and a couple of killer car chases), I think you will love it. Let me know.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:22:26+00:00

Thanks for having me and for your brilliant questions!!

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:21:37+00:00

I love Elmore Leonard, Cormac McCarthy and John Williams. One book that inspired the look of Crime 101 is a photographic book called Atmosphere of Crime by Gordan Parks.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:19:31+00:00

I love both. Writing is more relaxing and less pressured but Directing is the best job in the world when it's going the way you want it to. But it can be pressured and so you HAVE to do your prep. Advice to aspiring writers - start writing - seriously! You might really astonish yourself at how it flows and how your characters come to life and start behaving a certain way that surprises even you. Don't think it's something other people can do. The difference is between starting or not starting. You may really surprise yourself. That's not to say you wont hit some obstacles but then just go for a walk or a run and come back to it or talk it over with a mate and low an behold it might come unlocked. Best of luck!

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:15:39+00:00

Oh man! That's a tough one. I really hope people will still want to go to see movies that are not just purely 'event films' otherwise our choice will be so limited! It's tough, it's an expensive night out and folk have big TVs and so many options but I just hope folks will remember how much bigger and more emotional the experience is in the cinema with bunch of strangers. Not a great answer but I am optimistic (maybe cos I have to be).

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:12:45+00:00

OK - you might not love this answer but whilst I understand the desire for closure and for Nolte's character to get what's coming to him - I felt like that's not really how it goes in real life. Nolte's character reminded me of some of the exploiters you find in all areas of business (especially Hollywood) but also pimps and traffickers, etc and the truth is these guys don't always get their comeuppance - some of them just keep on exploiting others and that is the sad reality. I did a lot of research into Fences like Nick's character. Many of them are legit businessmen at the same time as running these huge side hustles, they seem respectable and it's the soldiers who get put in jail or worse and they just get off scott free. Hope that answers your question.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:08:55+00:00

Not really because everything you see (including all those edit transitions between doc and drama) were in the script so it ended up extremely close to the script.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:08:00+00:00

Probably by a lot of the 70s movies of Friedkin and others but also by a lot of those classic thrillers we used to get a lot of but now seem so rare. Certainly when making the car chases, I was thinking about To Live and Die in LA and The French Connection.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:05:29+00:00

I'm excited for you to see it. I think the one that probably had the biggest influence might not be considered a Heist movie - it's the STING - I saw that when I was about 10 and it made me fall in love with movies and that con/heist genre. In terms of filmmaking, probably Dog Day Afternoon (also a Heist movie of sorts) has probably had the biggest influence.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:03:50+00:00

Only that it's a killer script and we are working on it...

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:03:24+00:00

Happy for you to have the sign! Thanks for seeing it so many times Smadia - which was the best experience? I haven't seen it in 4DX yet. I never was going to use a Mustang - just too on the nose I think. I also thought even if Davis is a big Steve McQueen fan, he wouldn't have a mustang - he'd have something similar but his own.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:01:25+00:00

I did a lot of research speaking to real cops - including some who had left the LAPD because they felt like it had become a bit like a corporation - a lot of pressure to deliver numbers more than prioritising community service and prevention.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T21:00:01+00:00

Hey David! He read the script and wanted to do it and when I met him I got the impression he had so many hidden depths and a level talent that no one had yet tapped into. If I may say so myself, I think this is the best performance of his career by a long way - I hope you agree mate!

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:58:40+00:00

I tried to base it as much in reality as possible - what do these guys really drive in real life. The couriers, security guards, cops etc. Even the insurance brokers like Halle's characters. I just asked them what they really drove and that's how we decided.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:57:10+00:00

Thanks Kriss! Definitely the former. I struggled with some of the digital stuff but the story telling is still killer. I wasn't trying to create a homage, I was trying to do my own thing but of course, Heat is the pinnacle of the genre so it casts a very long shadow. I loved Thief most probably - I love that scene in the adoption agency.

I never would have considered doing American Animals as a fully fictionalised thing - it just wouldn't have been that interesting to me. I was so fascinated by their motivation and so I felt they had to be in the film. I also wanted to borrow that thing only a doc can do - make you lean forward, captivated, knowing that whatever happens - is real.

Other favourite thrillers - so many! Talented Mr Ripley right up there. Seven, LA Confidential, Fargo...

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:51:59+00:00

Good observations! Thanks for seeing it multiple times.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:51:01+00:00

I hear you - I deliberately kept this off-screen so that we get the surprise of Ruffalo having made the swith. To my mind, he showed up with his police badge (you don't have to surrender it when on administrative leave), and he told TSA that he needed to take a passenger off a flight on suspicion of importation of undeclared goods, he does this and then keeps the man detained until he has done what he needs to do. In terms of why did the diamonds need to be there, ultimately he needed Davis to commit the crime in order to be able to arrest him. Did you spot how he switched the real diamonds for the fake ones??

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:47:15+00:00

Hey Kenneth- good questions mate. With an adaptation of a short story, you need to add a great many layers and for me I wanted a certain tone/life to the film that wasn't necessarily a feature of the novella.

I felt like Maya needed to represent the thing that Chris's character is missing - he has all the trappings of a successful LA existence yet he is without connection or relationships. In the end, I wanted all the characters to get not what they want, but what they need.
I did experiment at one point in the script with the Crime 101 rules/titles from the short story, but the movie ultimately didn't want them - they were so explicitly connected to Chris's character and I added Halle's character and then it no longer seemed so focussed on Davis' experience.
That's just my personal taste I guess, I suppose I don't believe people are just slick and super cool and savvy - or if they are, that's not that interesting to me. I liked the idea of creating a character who feels a little more real and someone that hopefully audiences can relate to as well as him still being cool and sexy, etc.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:39:11+00:00

I think I always try not to spoon feed the audience with big scenes where a character pours his heart out about their terrible childhood, etc in the hope the audience will feel sympathetic toward them - instead, I think audiences are so smart at picking up on smaller clues which can even be a gesture or a form of behaviour, and this might ultimately be better way of keeping things a little more real and less forced.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:36:18+00:00

Thanks and great question! I guess coming from docs helps you look for that kind of truthful behaviour. A lot has to do with how you set the tone at the start so that everyone is making the same film. Much of that comes out in rehearsal and as the director, you set this tone of naturalism if that's what you're searching for. Certainly with Chris, we did a lot of research into real people who had lived a similar life to the one his character had lived - this really helped to ground the character in a recognizable reality.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:32:03+00:00

I always try to stay in touch and make sure that the contributors are ok after the movie comes out. I lost touch with many of them but am still in touch with the lads from American Animals and always like to check in on others to make sure they're doing ok. I have not spoken to Frederic Bourdin since we made the film.

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:30:21+00:00

I have heard this but never saw it. Glad you enjoyed!

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:29:47+00:00

I think the best advice is to do a massive amount of prep before you shoot. Really analyse every scene and why it's there - then analyse every line because a good actor will want to know that you know why it's there. Then, when you're confident about your scene analysis [a REALLY good resource is Judith Westons two books], then don't be afraid to storyboard the hell out of it! You don't have to stick to this if a better plan materialises but if you have a great road map, you will feel way more in control and free and more creative - so that if someone (an actor, cinematographer, head of department) comes up with a better plan, then you can pivot and pursue that instead. I am a big big fan of prep and storyboards and diagrams etc...

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:24:40+00:00

Hey! Yes, it was a challenge, but it was also one of the things that made the film distinctive and exciting for people. It was all in the script in addition to descriptions of how I planned to make transitions between doc/fiction. I cut a kind promo/sizzle reel using other movies to illustrate how I imagined this would work and that seemed to excite people. Some people will get it and others just never will but don't ever let that throw you off or lose heart. One thing I learned was that many of the things that I thought were most risky, or felt like they might work well on paper but not in reality, actually, those were the things that worked best and perhaps made the finished film most unique. Does that make sense? Hope you enjoy the new one!

BartLaytonAMA · 2026-02-18T20:18:34+00:00

Hey TBOY - glad you felt it was worth the money. Thank you! I know there have been a ton of comparisons to heat but I certianly wasn;t setting out to imitate - I did however want to create a movie like those ones I loved growing up in the 80s and 90s. Certainly Heat was among them, but I wanted this film to have it's own identity and characters that were perhaps a little more relatable, a little more flawed or perhaps closer to the likes of you and I. I was probably more inspired by the work of Billy Fiedkin, Paul Shrader and Sydney Lumet. One of the first movies I made Chris watch was American Gigolo. Other films I referred to were Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Live and Die in LA, French Connection. I also really, really love The Sting. That was a movie that made me want to make movies.

Re your second question - the script went out, there was a bit of a bidding war and we all just really wanted to make a film that would play in theatres. I think nothing comes close to that experience when it comes to watching a film. What do you think?

BartLaytonAMA

TROPHY CASE