Synopsis

Insurance investigator Virginia "Gin" Baker poses as a professional thief to catch veteran burglar Robert "Mac" MacDougal, whom she suspects of stealing a priceless Rembrandt. Their partnership develops into a series of elaborate robberies, culminating in a high-stakes scheme involving billions of dollars, the approaching millennium, and the heavily guarded Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film's climactic skybridge sequence was filmed at Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Twin Towers. Production reportedly shut down for a full day to rehearse the complicated stunt, a decision intended to reduce delays and overtime costs.

• The production came in nearly $2 million below its approximately $68 million budget. Producer Sean Connery helped keep costs under control by avoiding private air travel and unnecessary cars and drivers.

• Principal photography took place in Britain and Malaysia. Locations included Duart Castle on Scotland's Isle of Mull, Blenheim Palace, London's Savoy Hotel, Lloyd's of London, Borough Market, and the Petronas complex.

• Some locations were combined through editing to create the film's version of Kuala Lumpur. The movie connected imagery of the Petronas Towers with areas of Malacca, which led Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to criticize it for presenting a distorted image of the country.

• The screenplay began as a story idea by Ron Bass and Michael Hertzberg and was later developed into a screenplay by Bass and William Broyles Jr. The project also underwent a change of director during pre-production, with Antoine Fuqua departing before filming began.

• The movie's millennium setting reflects the late-1990s anxiety surrounding Y2K, when widespread computer failures were feared as the calendar changed from 1999 to 2000.

• In the United Kingdom, a line was altered before the film received a 12 certificate. The original wording was restored for the 2007 DVD release.