May 7, 2026 2:00am PT

James Nelson Joyce, Richard E. Grant and Dominic West to Star in Dark Comedy ‘The Man Who Stole Portugal’

Beta Cinema is handling world sales and will launch the period heist film — inspired by a real life financial fraud — in Cannes

Alex Ritman

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Alex Ritman

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David Reiss, Pip Seed, supplied by agent

Principal photography has begun on “The Man Who Stole Portugal,” a darkly comic period heist inspired by one of the most audacious financial frauds of the 20th century.

Directed by BAFTA nominee Thomas Napper (“Jawbone,” “Widow Clicquot”), the script is by Richard Galazka, inspired by the titular true crime book by Murray Teigh Bloom.

In his first film lead role, BAFTA nominee James Nelson Joyce (“This City is Ours,” “A Thousand Blows”) plays Alves Reis, a self-made outsider with a genius for turning a closed door into an opportunity. Shut out and underestimated, he’s is determined to give his wife Maria (Emily Fairn, “House of Guinness,” “The Responder”) and their family the life they deserve and, hustle by hustle, he begins to invent his way upwards. From forged credentials to official contracts, his journey takes him via colonial backwaters all the way to the boardrooms of the Bank of Portugal — until his greatest bluff becomes one of the greatest cons in history.

James Nelson Joyce, Richard E. Grant and Dominic West to Star in Dark Comedy 'The Man Who Stole Portugal'