Kidnapping Freddy Heineken

Kidnapping Freddy Heineken (U.S. title Kidnapping Mr. Heineken) is a 2015 British-Dutch crime drama film directed by Daniel Alfredson based on the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken. The screenplay, based on the 1987 book by Peter R. de Vries, was written by William Brookfield. The role of Freddy Heineken is played by Anthony Hopkins, with Sam Worthington as Willem Holleeder, Jim Sturgess as Cor van Hout, Ryan Kwanten as Jan Boellaard, Thomas Cocquerel as Martin Erkamps and Mark van Eeuwen as Frans Meijer.^[1]

Kidnapping Freddy Heineken
U.S. theatrical release poster
Directed by	Daniel Alfredson
Screenplay by	William Brookfield
Based on	Kidnapping Freddy Heineken by Peter R. de Vries
Produced by	Judy Cairo Howard Meltzer Michael A. Simpson
Starring	Anthony Hopkins Sam Worthington Jim Sturgess Ryan Kwanten
Cinematography	Fredrik Bäckar
Edited by	Håkan Karlsson
Music by	Clay Duncan Lucas Vidal
Production companies	European Film Company Informant Europe SPRL Umedia
Distributed by	Alchemy A Plus Films Signature Entertainment
Release dates	18 January 2015 (2015-1-18) (Netherlands) 3 April 2015 (2015-4-3) (United Kingdom)
Running time	95 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom Netherlands
Language	English

Plot

In 1983 Amsterdam, wannabe gangster friends Willem Holleeder, Cor van Hout, Jan Boellard, Martin Erkamps, and Frans Meijer kidnap Heineken owner Freddy Heineken in an attempt to obtain a high ransom for his return. Heineken's family pays the ransom, he is released and Willem and Cor flee to Paris and go into hiding. Cor calls his wife Sonja, leading to the kidnappers' capture.

Cast

• Anthony Hopkins as Freddy Heineken
• Sam Worthington as Willem Holleeder
• Jim Sturgess as Cor van Hout
• Ryan Kwanten as Jan Boellard
• Jemima West as Sonja Holleeder
• Thomas Cocquerel as Martin Erkamps
• Mark van Eeuwen as Frans Meijer
• David Dencik as Ab Doderer
• Billy Slaughter as Junior Officer
• Eric Godon as The cop

Production

Filming began in Belgium in October 2013.^[2] Most of the outside action scenes were filmed on location in Amsterdam.

Reception

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken received generally unfavourable reviews from critics. The film has a 33/100 score at Metacritic^[3] and a 19% score at Rotten Tomatoes.^[4]

The Los Angeles Times commented, "Despite its true-events pedigree, Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is woefully captive to B-movie crime saga tropes."^[5]

Variety wrote, "About as appealing as day-old beer littered with cigarette butts, the abysmal caper drama Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is one of those international co-productions produced for all the right tax-credit reasons and none of the right artistic ones."^[6]

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "By the time the relatively brief but seemingly interminable proceedings reach their conclusion, viewers may feel like they've been held hostage themselves."^[7] Conversely, Rex Reed of The New York Observer gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, and commented, "Anthony Hopkins plays the king of the hops, and he is excellent. So is the rest of the movie, a sober, no-frills account about the highest ransom ever collected up to that time—$10 million and counting."^[8]