How a pandemic dare turned into a high-stakes diamond heist film in London
In short: Written on a dare during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 film Locked Down captures a unique moment in history. Shot in just 18 days with a modest budget, the production forced its stars to improvise lines on set, creating a chaotic, genre-bending experiment in quarantine-era storytelling.
The 2021 romantic comedy heist film Locked Down emerged from an unusual set of circumstances. Screenwriter Steven Knight penned the script in July 2020 as a dare, and by September, director Doug Liman had begun production in London. The film, which stars Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor as a couple navigating personal and professional crises during the lockdown, was financed and filmed entirely under the constraints of the global pandemic. The production was remarkably compressed, lasting only 18 days. This limited window and restricted resources meant that Hathaway and Ejiofor often had to tape their un-memorized lines around the set to manage the rapid shooting schedule.
The film's budget remains a point of minor contention. While initial reports suggested a $10 million price tag, director Doug Liman insisted the actual cost started with a three. Regardless of the exact figure, the project was acquired by Warner Bros. Pictures in December 2020 and released on HBO Max on January 14, 2021. It was later removed from the platform in July 2022. The narrative follows the couple as they contemplate stealing a diamond from Harrods, using the pandemic as a backdrop to explore themes of confinement and the freedoms people often take for granted.
Critical reception to the film was decidedly mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 42% approval rating, with critics noting that the film struggles to balance its disparate elements of relationship drama and heist caper. Reviews ranged from David Ehrlich’s B-grade assessment, which praised the film as an amiable romp, to harsher critiques from writers like Erik Nielsen, who labeled it a tone-deaf project that nobody needed. Ultimately, the film stands as a strange, time-capsule artifact of a period defined by sudden, forced isolation and the creative risks taken by filmmakers working within those rigid boundaries.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Locked Down (film)
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