Mona Lisa's theft sequence set to arrive on big screen, Jodie Foster to direct drama

Remember Leonardo DaVinci's famous painting of Mona Lisa that was stolen in the year 1911? Now the sequence of theft is going to be turned into a film, directed by Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster, as per a report.

LAMF will fund the project

The Los Angeles Media Fund (LAMF) is financing the project, Deadline reported.

LAMF's Jeffrey Soros while talking to Deadline said: "This happened in 1911, and it was the thing that made the Mona Lisa so famous".

He added that "It was developed by Phoenix, which is still involved, but we have got a whole new script that Bill Wheeler is writing for Jodie Foster to direct. This is in the mold of The Thomas Crown Affair, with The Sting also a plot device comp. It is a fun story, and the crime itself is not sophisticated"

"Our story mixes truth and fiction, and the focus is on the characters behind orchestrating the theft," Soros said.

Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, Paris in 1911.

Modus operandi of the theft

Vincenzo was hired by the Louvre to make protective glass cases for some of its paintings including the Mona Lisa.

Vincenzo stayed behind in a closet for the entire night and simply removed the painting from the protective ceiling and escaped.

The theft made the art famous

Before its theft, the Mona Lisa was not widely known outside the art world. Leonardo da Vinci painted it in 1507, but it wasn't until the 1860s that critics began to hail it as a masterwork painting.

For the first time there were queues outside the Louvre, just to see the empty space where the painting had hung, the CNN reported.

Jodie Foster who will be directing the film is best known for playing the character Clarice Starling in the 1991 film The Silence Of The Lambs with Anthony Hopkins and Scott Glenn.

Her other popular roles include Contact in 1997 and Inside Man in 2006.