American Animals

American Animals is a crime drama film written and directed by Bart Layton. It stars Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson, Udo Kier, and Ann Dowd. The film is based on the true story of a library heist that happened at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky in 2004.[4] It premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2018 and was released on June 1, 2018, by The Orchard and MoviePass Ventures.

The storytelling frequently jumps between interviews with the real people portrayed in the movie and the events themselves performed by actors.

In 2003 in Lexington, Kentucky, Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan) is an art student who feels his life has no meaning, that he needs something exciting, even if tragic, to happen in his life to inspire greater artistry. Warren Lipka (Evan Peters) is a rebellious student on an athletic scholarship, though he does not

care much for sports and is only pursuing the education to please his family.

After Spencer is given a tour of Transylvania University’s library’s rare book collection, the two friends begin to plan to steal an extremely valuable edition of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America and other rare books. Warren travels to Amsterdam to meet some black market buyers who express interest in buying the books. Upon returning to the US, he informs Spencer that they could make millions of dollars, much to their excitement.

Realizing that pulling off the

heist will require more people, they enlist the help of childhood friends Erik Borsuk (Jared Abrahamson), who helps provide the logistics of the operation, and Chas Allen (Blake Jenner), who will be the getaway driver. They all take time to prepare, learning that the only person guarding the books is the special collections librarian, Betty Jean Gooch (Ann Dowd).

On the day of the robbery, they disguise themselves as elderly businessmen, and enter the library. After noticing that there are too many people in the special collections library, they quickly abort the heist and re-

treat. Three of the conspirators want to end the attempt altogether, but Warren calls the library asking for a private appointment the next day.

An epilogue describes their lives after prison. Eric lives in Los Angeles as a writer, and Chas has become a fitness coach in Southern California. Warren has re-enrolled in college and studies filmmaking in Philadelphia. Spencer still lives in Lexington making a living as an artist, specializing in birds. Betty Jean Gooch, the librarian, still works at Transylvania University as a special collections librarian.