American Animals

American Animals is a 2018 docudrama heist film written and directed by Bart Layton. Starring Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson, and Ann Dowd, it is an account of the Transylvania University book heist which took place at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky in 2004. The film splices actors playing out the events before, during, and after the heist with interview segments of the real-life people involved. American Animals premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2018. The film was theatrically released in the United States on June 1, 2018, by The Orchard and MoviePass Ventures. Among other awards the film won the Junior Jury Award at The Montclair Film Festival. It received generally favorable reviews from critics, particularly for its screenplay, acting, use of unreliable narrators, and an unconventional storytelling structure that fused real-life characters and actors representing those characters. Plot Spencer Reinhard, an art student seeking excitement or tragedy for inspiration, is given a tour of Transylvania University library's rare-book collection; his eye is drawn to a rare first edition of John James Audubon's Birds of America. He and his friend Warren Lipka, a rebellious student on an athletic scholarship at the University of Kentucky, discuss the possibility of stealing it and other rare books. They note that the collection is guarded by only one librarian, whom they believe they could easily overpower before stealing the books and escaping via the staff elevator. Warren travels to Amsterdam to meet black-market buyers who express interest, informing Spencer they could make millions. They later enlist the help of two friends: Eric Borsuk to provide logistics and Chas Allen as the getaway driver. They make an appointment for a private viewing of the collection in order to gain access to the room, and arrive disguised as elderly businessmen; but they abort the heist when Warren sees multiple librarians in the room. Spencer wants to abandon the plan, but Warren persuades him and the others to try again the next day. Spencer acts as a lookout as Warren and Eric, without disguises, enter the library. Warren clumsily uses a stun gun on the librarian, making Eric help restrain her. They blunder to the exit, dropping The Birds of America, but escape with two books.