Best known for his TV work on the likes of Sons Of Anarchy and The Shield, director Stephen Kay will next be applying his gritty aesthetic to a bigger canvas. He's signed on to direct the indie Mafia heist thriller 6 Bullets From Now, from a screenplay by Christian Darren.

Not to be confused with the direct-to-video Van Damme epic Six Bullets (although Kay did direct the Stallone remake of Get Carter in 2000), 6 Bullets From Now is based on the notorious Pierre Hotel robbery of January 1, 1972.

"Professional thieves" Samuel Nalo and Robert Comfort enlisted a small team of Mafia goodfellas and contract killers to take advantage of the New Year celebrations at the hotel. Party-goers had left their valuable jewellery in the Pierre's lockboxes, pending return to proper bank vaults when they reopened. With the hotel running a skeleton crew for the holidays, it was therefore a relatively easy target, and the robbers escaped with a fortune (remembering to tip the hotel staff as they left).

It's still one of the biggest hotel robberies in history. There were a couple of arrests, and some gangster in-fighting that led to murder, but a lucky few (some of whom were hangers-on who didn't even participate in the crime) got clean away with the loot and lived - perhaps - happily ever after.

“I was a kid in Jersey in the '70s” says Kay. “This was the biggest jewel heist in the history of New York at the time. I loved that era and the films of the late '60s and '70s shaped who I am, what I like, and the films I want to make. You could say that 6 Bullets From Now is a love letter to the New York of my childhood.”

Producer Tommy Alastra promises an "authentic '70s crime thriller" explicitly along the lines of Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico. Shooting is planned to take place in - where else? - New York during the summer.