The trailer for a brand new film telling the story of an unemployed Newcastle taxi driver who pulled off an Old Master art heist has been released.

The Duke, which stars Academy Award winners Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, can be released in UK cinemas on September three.

Described as an “uplifting dramatic comedy,” the film tells the story of how an unassuming 61-year-outdated Geordie pulled off the theft of a well-known Old Master portray.

READ MORE:The courageous Tyneside evacuees of 80 years in the past

Kempton Bunton, from Benwell, made headlines with against the law that surprised the art world within the 1960s: the brazen theft of an 1812 portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Goya – the one portray ever to have been stolen from The National Gallery in London.

The curious sparked a stage of publicity corresponding to that of the Great Train Robbery and even earned a spot in James Bond film Dr No, starring Sean Connery, the place the lacking Goya is proven on an easel within the enemy den and is noticed by 007 who remarks: “So there it is.”

The film, directed by Bafta winner Roger Michell (Notting Hill), had its World Premiere eventually 12 months’s Venice Film Festival the place it obtained vital acclaim.

A trailer and poster for The Duke has now been released.

Publicity for the film says, “The Duke is a shifting true story that celebrates a person who was decided to stay a significant life.

Left: A portrait of the Duke of Wellington; Right: How the Chronicle reported the case of Kempton Bunton

“Set in 1961, it follows the story of Kempton Bunton, a 60-year outdated taxi driver, who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London.

“It was the primary, and stays the one, theft within the Gallery’s historical past. Kempton proceeded to ship ransom notes declaring that he would solely return the portray on the situation that the federal government make investments extra in care for the aged, particularly bringing consideration to his lengthy operating marketing campaign for pensioners to obtain free tv.

“What occurred subsequent is the stuff of legends…solely 50 years later did the complete story emerge and it was revealed that Kempton had spun an internet of lies.

“The solely reality was that he was a superb man, decided to vary the world and save his marriage – how and why he used the Duke to realize this, is a splendidly uplifting story that can be seen on film for the primary time.”

However the story is tackled on the massive display screen, it’s set to fascinate audiences with its account of an audacious theft seemingly sparked by a 61-year-outdated’s sense of injustice.

Kempton was stated to have been enraged that £140,000 had been spent on securing Goya’s well-known portray of The Iron Duke – who defeated Napoleon on the 1815 Battle of Waterloo – for the nation when pensioners have been being anticipated to pay a £four TV licence price levy.

He himself had been fined £2 by Newcastle magistrates for refusing to pay his licence, on the premise he solely watched ITV, and he was then jailed for 13 days.

How he pulled off the grand theft was a thriller and there have been lots twists and turns to the story, together with an uncommon ransom demand, earlier than the portray was recovered 4 years later, with Kempton ultimately cleared of its theft on the premise he didn’t intend to completely deprive the nation of the Old Master which he had hidden away in a bed room cabinet. He was, nevertheless, convicted of stealing its nonetheless-lacking body.

The indisputable fact that the ransom demand had requested for cash to cowl the licence prices of the needy turned Bunton into one thing of an area hero.

The story of the late Bunton was earlier instructed in a 2015 native play referred to as The Duke within the Cupboard and it is usually the topic of a brand new musical by Richard Voyce who has uncovered one more twist, involving Bunton’s son, within the extraordinary story.

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