‘Snatch’ Crime Comedy Gives Nod To Guy Ritchie Movie – TCA

Harry Potter alum Rupert Grint stars in and executive produces Snatch, the series for Sony’s streaming network Crackle based on the Guy Ritche-directed 2000 Sony movie of the same name that starred Jason Statham and Brad Pitt. Grint plays the dynamic, frustratingly chaotic and utterly posh con man, Charlie Cavendish.  Ed Westwick,  best known for playing Chuck Bass on CW’s teen drama series Gossip Girl, plays Cuban-born nightclub owner Sonny Castillo in the series.

Someone at TCA asked Grint  – and Westwick – what it’s like trading in one iconic role to take on someone else’s iconic role.

Grint said he relished the opportunity. Westwick said, “I don’t really approach work by looking backwards. What I’ve done is what I’ve done. I read the script and…it was like a match made in heaven, and I said ‘Sign me up, let’s do it!’”

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Westwick says he has based his Cuban-born gangster role on Pitbull. “I felt like it was a good fit and if you don’t like it, I do,” he said.

Luke Pasqualino, meanwhile, got  asked if there were any similarities between his Albert Hill character in this series and d’Artagna, who he played in the TV series The Musketeers. “They look alike,” he joked.

Originally announced at Crackle’s upfront presentation, Snatch debuts March 16, carrying the spirit of the setting in the film, while creating a new world with new characters. Inspired by a real life heist in London, Snatch centers on a group of twentysomething hustlers who stumble upon a truckload of stolen gold bullion and are thrust into the high-stakes world of organized crime.

One TV critic noted the series seems like a “particularly English crime story, reasoning that, had it been American, the cast would have been more heavily armed. EP/writer/showrunner Alex De Rakoff agreed and said the choice of knuckle dusters, for instance, is part of the show’s charm and “very English…spirit.”