'30 Minutes or Less' Borrows From 'Pizza Bomber' Incident

By Maggie Coughlan Posted Apr 26th 2011 04:10PM

The trailer for Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari's new buddy comedy '30 Minutes or Less' looks like a hilarious tale of two friends and a pizza delivery gone awry. But a closer look reveals echoes of true life events that had no punchline.

Eisenberg plays Nick, a pizza delivery boy who is kidnapped and forced to rob a bank by Dwayne, a criminal played by Danny McBride. Nick only has eight hours to pull off the bank robbery or the bomb Dwayne has strapped to his chest will detonate. Chet (Ansari) gets caught in the process, making for a comedic series of events.

It might be all laughs for Eisenberg, Ansari and the '30 Minutes' crew, but on Aug. 28, 2003, Brian Wells, a pizza delivery man in Erie, Pa., was killed after the bomb strapped to his neck detonated following a bank robbery. The details of the case were so bizarre, it incited a media frenzy.

A pizza man for 30 years, Wells received a call to deliver two pizzas to an address a few miles from the Mama Mia Pizzeria in Erie on the afternoon of Aug. 28. It was later discovered that the address given was to a TV transmission tower at the end of a dirt road.

However, reports later stated that Wells was actually involved in the planning of the robbery and was the "delivery" was Wells meeting people he thought were his accomplices. Wells was allegedly told the bomb was going to be fake. He was instructed to claim that three black men forced the bomb on him and to tell police he was a hostage.

(In September 2008, a conspirator in the robbery, Kenneth Barnes, 53, confirmed that Wells was indeed involved in planning the robbery but also revealed he was under the impression an actual bomb would not be used.)

Wells told police before the bomb exploded that he had been forced at gunpoint to wear the bomb around his neck and rob the bank. The device exploded while police waited for the bomb squad to arrive, killing Wells.

Authorities struggled to determine if Wells was a willing participant or an innocent victim. Indictments released on July 11, 2007, said Wells had been a conspirator because of his participation in the execution of the robbery. U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan argued that Wells' action of actually robbing the bank made him a conspirator in the crime.

"While he may have been unwilling in the final act, when the collar was forcibly attached to his neck, he continued forth with the robbery," threatening the safety of bank tellers, customers and others, Buchanan said.

A federal grand jury indicted Barnes and Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, 58, on charges of bank robbery, conspiracy and weapons charges.

Diehl-Armstrong conspired with Barnes and then-boyfriend William Rothstein to rob the bank so that she would gain money to kill her father, Harold, who she claimed cheated her out of money left by her mother's estate.

On Feb. 28, Diehl-Armstrong was sentenced to life plus 30 years in federal prison, yet details of the case remain prevalent in the news.

This isn't the first time the "pizza bomber" case has made its way to Hollywood. 'Law & Order' and 'Bones' have both incorporated the incident into storylines.

Watch the trailer for '30 Minutes or Less'

Comments

(4)

Wednesday 27 April

By BTDT

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I won't presume to speak for the Wells family, but I suspect they won't find this the least bit funny.

By Rachel

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Yeah, I'm pretty sure this movie will not be received well here in Erie. I wouldn't be surprised if the Wells family protested outside Tinseltown (our movie theater).

Friday 29 April

By Jenny

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The script is different from the actual event. I doubt the family would be offended once they see the film.

Wednesday 27 July

By jodie

yeah um... those of us who were friends with brian will not be seeing that movie... nothing was funny about this incident

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