In the summer release of the film The Bling Ring, we’ll see Emma Watson’s transition into a full-fledged actress following the Harry Potter series. The Bling Ring, which is written and directed by Sofia Coppola, also stars Leslie Mann and Gavin Rossdale and features a cameo appearance from Paris Hilton. For the most part though, Coppola chose a new crop of mostly unknown actors to portray Watson’s fellow thieves in the film.
The film, inspired by actual events, is based upon a group of teenagers who burgled the homes of several celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Bilson, Megan Fox, and Orlando Bloom over the course of several months beginning in October 2008. In its entirety, the activities of The Bling Ring resulted in the theft of about $3 million in clothes, jewelry, handbags, luggage, and cash.
The events, which have been described as “completely unprecedented in the history of Hollywood” by Vanity Fair, have already sparked a 2011 Lifetime television movie of the same name, and an E! Entertainment reality show following Alexis Neiers, one of the group’s members, while she tries to launch her modeling career and deal with her involvement in the case.
Along with the masses who move to LA every year to make it as an actor, most people who grow up in or around the Los Angeles area don’t end up working in the entertainment industry. To survive, some go the reality TV route, some bus tables waiting for their acting dreams to take off while doing the occasional commercial on the side, while others even drift into the regions extensive porn industry, but the Hollywood Bling Ring took a different path entirely. The premise was simple: Why work for the bling, when you can just take it?
It seemed like almost a year and a half in Hollywood went by where you were no one unless your house had been burgled or an attempt had been made to burgle your house. Kourtney Kardashian and Hayden Panettiere were also burgled in the same time period, though the Bling Ring did not seem to be involved.
Search warrants in 2009 revealed the extent of the heists: purses from Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel, True Religion jeans, Bongo jeans, a Montblanc watch, a diamond-encrusted Cartier watch, multiple Rolex watches, Gucci eyeglasses, a Blackberry, a Tiffany wedding band, and in addition to the diamond, gold and platinum rings, the police raid netted a bag of loose diamonds, totaling 42.94 karats. Drug paraphernalia and guns were also allegedly found including bottles of prescription drugs commonly taken by celebrities like Clonazepen, Lexapro, and Oxycodone.
As court proceedings started, the Bling Ring proved that they were definitely not criminal masterminds. One suspect showed up in court wearing a necklace that had been stolen from the home of Lindsay Lohan, resulting in an additional charge of receiving stolen property.
Despite the mounting evidence leading up to the trail, the suspects all maintained their innocence.
Alexis Neiers, now 21, ended up serving only 30 days of her 180 day sentence and 3-year probation after changing her plea from innocent to no contest due to the fact that Orlando Bloom was going to testify against her had they gone to trial.
Rachel Lee, now 22, the alleged ringleader of the group, was sentenced to four years in state prison after she pleaded no contest to one count of first-degree residential burglary. She is expected to serve at least 2 years of her sentence.
What began as a group of teenagers’ mutual obsession to be in with the Hollywood “it” crowd resulted in jail sentences, criminal records, and infamy, but everyone knows in Hollywood there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Check out the teaser trailer below and see it in theaters June 14, 2013.
Article by Alan Diamond
