Crime 101’s head writer explains why his new Chris Hemsworth film is ‘more of an emotional roller coaster’ than his other acclaimed films

• Crime 101 writer-director Bart Layton has revealed the biggest challenge he faced on his new film
• The Chris Hemsworth-led film is based on a short story of the same name
• It is the first non-true crime project that Layton has worked on

Crime 101‘s writer-director has opened up about the biggest creative challenge he faced in approaching his new film.

Speaking exclusively to TechRadar, Bart Layton said that turning Don Winslow’s novel of the same name into a two-hour feature film was scary in itself. However, he also admitted that compared to previous films he has worked on, he has the creative freedom to take Crime 101‘s film adaptation in a different direction from its source material was equally terrifying.

Until now, Layton’s work had consisted of the crime genre—that is, offerings on the big and small screens centered on stories involving criminal activity. However, from the British filmmaker’s 2012 BAFTA award-winning The deceiver to 2018’s underrated American animalssuch productions were all based on real crimes, such as the latter’s take on the 2004 Transylvania University book heist.

Since one of 2026’s most anticipated new films was based on a work of fiction rather than fact, Layton had to tackle not only embellishing Winslow’s short story, but also doing justice to a tale that is highly regarded among fans of the beloved American author. On top of all that, the Amazon and Sony film had to deliver on the character arc and be visually and narratively compelling. So no pressure, Mr. Barton!