TOMB RAIDER MOVIE FOOTAGE STOLEN
Copyright 2000 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

[ October 6th 2000 ]

Scenes from the £55 million big screen version of Tomb Raider are expected to appear on the Internet before its official release after thieves stole a copy of half of the film. Burglars escaped with a rucksack containing sensitive video tapes and a wallet during a burglary at the home of director Simon West. A team of lawyers and private detectives have been hired to try to stop the material being posted on the Internet or sold in bootleg form. Bosses at Paramount Studios are furious that someone maybe able to cash in on the theft because of the difficulty of finding and charging those who break copyright laws on the Internet.

Mr. West last night told the Sunday Express how he was woken up by intruder breaking the front door of his £1.1 million three-bedroomed home in Notting Hill, London. He said: "I was in bed at home when I heard a huge crash downstairs at about 2 a.m. I got up and went down but they just ran out. I didn't see them, just the front door swinging. I must have missed them by a split second.

"They snatched my bag which had two or three tapes including all the film so far, literally about half the film. It was everything we've done in the last two month." The burglary has been hushed up at Pinewood studios where Tomb Raider is being filmed near Burnham Beeches, west of London. A source said: "Simon West is a rich man and they only took a wallet and the tapes. Whoever did it knew what they were after. We fear it's going to end up on the Internet. Paramount is keeping it quiet but pulling out all the stops to get the material back."

The stolen footage includes a scene shot at a glacier reservoir in Iceland showing Lara in cold, rocky landscape surrounded by gun-wielding henchmen in parkas. Another scene in the haul is one filmed at Hatfield House, north of London, in which the heroine and companions are surrounded by an assault team in night vision goggles and gas masks.