Fox is developing a movie based on the exploits of Colton Harris-Moore, otherwise known as the Barefoot Bandit, whose shoeless roguery and series of outlandish thefts have already made him something of a modern-day folk hero, except to the people whose stuff he stole. Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black will adapt from a book that hasn’t even been written yet, Bob Friel’s Taking Flight: The Hunt For A Young Outlaw, while David Gordon Green is said to be in final talks to direct.
For those who have somehow missed out on the exploits of Harris-Moore, this Time profile should fill you in. There you can read all about the “gangly 18-year-old” (now 19) who escaped his rough home life by slipping into houses of the wealthy “just to soak in a hot bath or steal mint-chip ice cream from the fridge” before escaping back into the woods, eventually graduating to stealing cars, speedboats, and at least three planes—all of which he later crashed, yet somehow walked away from unharmed. It's a thrilling story of teenage rebellion that's like a cross between Tom Sawyer and Grand Theft Auto, and which makes the time you were busted for shoplifting at Sam Goody look sort of adorable.
Police had been chasing the Barefoot Bandit (so named because he once kicked off his shoes while fleeing deputies) for two years before he was finally apprehended earlier this month in the Bahamas. Naturally, his story has drawn comparisons to that of Catch Me If You Can’s Frank Abagnale Jr., while Black has been quoted as saying, “Like any great outlaw story, it speaks to the social and political mood of a generation.” Which we guess means this generation, like all generations before it, has to give it up for people with serious balls. Sociopolitically speaking, of course.