Chris and Will's coverage of the exciting premiere of Sony's newest film, "Caught Stealing," debuting in theaters on August 29th, featuring Regina King, Bad Bunny and Austin Butler.
CaliNewYork
Aug 23, 2025
3 min read
Coverage provided by Sony Pictures --- written by: ChrisWill Media/Christopher L. Antie.
August 7, 2025 - San Juan, Puerto Rico---Published on August 23, 2025.
Direct from Puerto Rico is a new film that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seats. PLEASE NOTE: Caught Stealing is rated "R" for: STRONG VIOLENT CONTENT, PERVASIVE LANGUAGE, SOME SEXUALITY/NUDITY AND BRIEF DRUG USE.
Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) was a high-school baseball phenom who can’t play anymore, but everything else is going okay. He’s got a great girl (Zoë Kravitz), tends bar at a New York dive, and his favorite team is making an underdog run at the pennant.
When his punk-rock neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to take care of his cat for a few days, Hank suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of threatening gangsters. They all want a piece of him; the problem is he has no idea why. As Hank attempts to evade their ever-tightening grip, he’s got to use all his hustle to stay alive long enough to find out…
Caught Stealing is directed by Academy Award® nominee Darren Aronofsky, screenplay by Charlie Huston, based on his book of the same name. The film stars Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Benito Martínez Ocasio, Griffin Dunne, and Carol Kane.
Caught Stealing keeps you begging for more. When you think you knew what was happening you become surprised at what’s next. Darren Aronofsky shows off his directing skill in a thrilling way, sending audiences to a forthright pre-9/11 New York. The time of when bars, rock, and crime was a heighten image.
Variety’s Jazz Tangcay went so far as to label it “one hell of a ride.” She singled out Austin Butler’s phenomenal acting and gave Regina King a nod as a true scene-stealer.
More About the Film: In Caught Stealing, acclaimed filmmaker Darren Aronofsky brings audiences into the heart of the East Village NYC in a thrilling–and at times grimly hilarious–story of a man whose life goes off the rails while he’s just trying to take care of a cat.
“The East Village is the kernel that makes New York City pop. To me, it’s the most electric, most creative, most fun place in the world.” Says Aronofsky.
In the 1990s, when Caught Stealing takes place, the East Village was Aronofsky’s home and workplace as he made his first film, Pi. “I like to call New York City in the 90s ‘peak humanity’,” he says. “There was an innocence to the world: the thing we were most worried about was Y2K, the president was in trouble because he had an extramarital affair and lied about it, the Soviet Union had collapsed and there was no real enemy, it was before 9/11, MDMA was legal, hip-hop was booming, grunge was peaking and electronic music was starting. I was running around the streets trying to promote my first film, Pi—stealing locations, tagging symbols everywhere. It was a great time to be alive.”
In this way, Aronofsky sees Caught Stealing as a chance for audiences to get a glimpse of a very specific time and place. “I spent most of my time drinking beers at McSorley’s and Sophie’s, eating hangover breakfasts at Mogador, and indulging in black-and-white cookies at Veselka in the afternoon. Life was great.”
Originality is the hallmark of Aronofsky’s work, and Caught Stealing is no exception—in the film, audiences will meet original characters on a wild adventure through parts of the city that don’t get a ton of film crews. But although Aronofsky is perhaps best-known for his dark, intense human dramas, like Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan, Caught Stealing represents a change of pace. “I really wanted to make a movie that was first and foremost fun—a movie that for two hours would fully distract and hold your attention, and while you’re at the theater, you have a great time,” he says. “There’s so much distraction in the world, so to get people to come and see a movie and have a great time felt like the most valuable thing I could work on right now.”
Chris and Will encourage you to go after your own thrill and see Caught Stealing in theaters August 29th.
For more information about Chris and Will go to the website chrisandwill.com and be sure to listen to their podcast on iHeartRadio called What About Our Life?
