Pittsburgh became the city of the viral heist: The filming locations of How to Rob a Bank
How to Rob a Bank
David Leitch has made his career out of action sequences that actually hurt – John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Bullet Train, The Fall Guy. For How to Rob a Bank, he took his crew to Pittsburgh and closed down streets, bridges and suburban corridors across the city for a summer of practical stunts designed to look like they were shot on a phone.
The premise: a crew of bank robbers has been using social media to document their heists, turning themselves into reluctant internet celebrities while the police chase them. Nicholas Hoult plays Ryan. Zoë Kravitz plays Reagan Gardner. Pete Davidson plays Vince. John C. Reilly, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz and Christian Slater complete the ensemble.
David Leitch directs. Mark Bianculli wrote the screenplay. Jonathan Sela handles cinematography. Distributed by Amazon MGM Studios in the US and Sony Pictures internationally, the film opens in theatres on November 13, 2026.
Production began in the Pittsburgh area in mid-June 2025 and ran through August – spreading from downtown Pittsburgh to the Mon Valley communities to the North Hills suburbs and across the city's most famous bridges.
Some filming took place in McKeesport and surrounding Mon Valley communities. The interior of McKeesport City Hall – formerly McKeesport National Bank – will be recognisable to local residents on screen. In June 2025, scenes were also filmed in the basement vault of McKeesport's People's Building – formerly People's National Bank and Union National Bank – giving the film the kind of genuine banking infrastructure. Additional scenes were filmed in North Versailles Township, Braddock and other Mon Valley communities.
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The George Westinghouse Bridge – the 1930s reinforced concrete arch bridge spanning Turtle Creek and the Pennsylvania Railroad in North Versailles Township – was used as a filming location.
Downtown Pittsburgh provided the film's primary urban action environment. Production took place on Smithfield Street, Montour Way, Sixth Avenue and in local parking garages – with Smithfield Street appearing prominently in the trailer as the location for police chase and stunt driving sequences. Production crews set up on July 1, 2025, along Babcock Boulevard as well.
Two of Pittsburgh's most iconic bridges were temporarily closed for filming. The Roberto Clemente Bridge – the 1928 self-anchored suspension bridge connecting downtown to the North Shore, one of the three sister bridges on the Allegheny River – and the 16th Street Bridge were both used for production sequences.
The elegant Carnegie Music Hall at 4400 Forbes Avenue was a major filming site. Its massive gilded interior, marble pillars and historic architecture added formal visual grandeur to the film. Equipment and crew setups were also spotted along Bellefield Avenue in Oakland.
At the end of July, the crew moved to McCandless in the North Hills, filming at SSB Bank along Perry Highway. Monday's shoot – confirmed by local residents who spotted the crew – took the production into the suburban North Hills communities north of the city.
How to Rob a Bank opens in theatres on November 13, 2026.
SOURCE
Pittsburgh Magazine // TribLive // Pittsburgh Post-Gazette // Amazon MGM Studios // McKeesport Daily News
CREDITS
© Amazon MGM Studios, Imagine Entertainment, 87Eleven Entertainment // Photo Megan Schoenbachler
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