James Nelson-Joyce and Emily Fairn will lead Thomas Napper’s darkly comic period heist The Man Who Stole Portugal , also starring Richard E. Grant and Dominic West . Principal photography is now underway on the movie, written by Richard Galazka, with Beta Cinema set to launch the project to international buyers in Cannes . The Man Who Stole Portugal is inspired by the titular true crime book by Murray Teigh Bloom about Alves dos Reis, who pulled off one of the largest frauds in history against the Bank of Portugal in 1925. This City is Ours and A Thousand Blows star Nelson-Joyce will play Reis, a self-made outsider with a genius for turning a closed door into an opportunity. “Shut out and underestimated, Reis is determined to give his wife Maria (Fairn) and their family the life they deserve,” a plot synopsis reads. “Hustle by hustle, he begins to invent his way upwards.…