Jason Segal for maple syrup heist movie
Stranger-than-fiction robbery happened in 2012.
'Muppets' star Jason Segal is to front a movie based on the stranger-than-fiction tale of a maple syrup heist which took place in 2012.
Currently untitled, the film will be helmed by Seth Gordon, who directed 'Horrible Bosses', with a script from 'Family Guy' writer Chris Sheridan.
Described as a 'comedy with dramatic overtones', the film will tell the story of $20 million worth of Canada's stickiest export being stolen from the Federation of Maple Syrup Producers in Quebec.
[Films based on a true story... but aren't really]
The heist was reported on by Anne Sutherland for the Montreal Gazette in 2012, and the film is inspired by the events.
20 people were arrested in connection to the crime, in which the huge haul of syrup was taken from a warehouse in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, Quebec, the state which produces 80% of Canada's iconic product.
[Banderas to play real-life Super Mario]
The theft was only discovered after an inventory found that barrels thought to contain the syrup were in fact empty, meaning the syrup had been somehow transferred to other containers before being stolen.
Two thirds of the huge haul was eventually recovered by police.
Top grade maple syrup costs around $1800 per barrel, making it around 13 times more expensive than crude oil.
