Peter Craig -- that's one of those people you may not recognize by name, but you'd absolutely recognize by their work. Especially for fans of some of the biggest movies to hit Hollywood in recent years. Craig either wrote the script or helped develop the story for Gladiator II, The Town, Top Gun: Maverick, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, and Bad Boys for Life. And then there's The Batman, which he co-wrote with Matt Reeves. Fans of the caped crusader are stoked for The Batman II, to put it mildly, and so is Craig. However, despite what some internet sources might say, Craig moved on from the DC franchise in order to create his own series, Dope Thief, which hits Apple TV+ this week.
"I'm listed as working on [The Batman II] when I'm not. That's Matt's thing," Craig told MovieWeb in a recent interview. "I was doing [Dope Thief], and so that might be an IMDb glitch or something [...] He had a really, really great, clean idea for how to do Batman again, and it really was a good one."
Several years after the success of The Batman, Craig is successfully foraying into the small screen with the help of an Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actor he discovered on the FX series, Atlanta. Brian Tyree Henry is the star of Dope Thief, and Craig opened up to us about how he came to realize Henry was perfect for the new show's eponymous antihero:
"It was Atlanta but partly because, you know, Ray has to both do slightly questionable things, but also be kind of grouchy with it, crabby with everybody and barking at everybody. But you still have to love him. And to me, that really was Paper Boi. I mean, I love that character so much, so it was that initially."
"I'd seen his film work, and we have some friends in common that we'd worked with. So I talked to them about him, so I knew he had all of it. I just didn't know how good he was," continued Craig. "Everybody would talk about how, you know, Kobe Bryant still had the best work ethic of anybody on the team, or, like Michael Jordan... They were really skilled, but they also, like, were the last one leaving practice and the first one there. I mean, that's kind of Brian. He's just like a workhorse, and he just gave everything he possibly could."
'Dope Thief' Is "About a Place"
Besides Henry's gripping turn in the lead role, Dope Thief succeeds in other ways -- especially since it transports us out of typical Hollywood settings and into uniquely gritty parts of Philly (like another new crime series, Long Bright River). Craig adapted Dennis Tafoya's 2009 novel of the same name to create Dope Thief, and spoke to us about why the source material really resonated with him.
"First of all, [Dennis is] so great with Philadelphia, and I love anything that's really about a place, too. I've always been really attracted to that," said Craig. "And then, he just had such a great way into the story with this initial con that these guys were doing. And both of them are tired of it. They don't think they can do it for very much longer. I always really relate to those kinds of characters that have built a kind of strange moral apparatus about something they think isn't that bad."
Dope Thief will begin streaming on Apple TV+ Friday, March 14, 2025. You can watch it through the link below:
Watch Dope Thief
Dope Thief Crime Drama Release Date March 13, 2025 Network Apple TV+ Cast See All Brian Tyree Henry Ray Wagner Moura Manny Cespedes Marin Ireland Kristy Lynne Kate Mulgrew Theresa Bowers
Creator(s) Peter Craig Powered by Expand Collapse