With the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum marking 35 years since the infamous art heist, a social media campaign for a new movie left some wondering if the priceless paintings stolen had been recovered.
It's a case that still intrigues the people of Boston to this day: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist.
Tuesday marks 35 years since it happened, and now it's the subject of a viral social media video.
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"They could be anywhere, so it's fun to hypothesize, like, are they in some oligarch's basement? Or where are these paintings?" Gloria Schmitz a Boston resident, pondered about the priceless paintings' whereabouts.
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"I think heists are cool. I mean, the fact that they got away with it, it's just crazy," added college student Scara Tu.
Three-and-a-half decades ago, 13 pieces of art were stolen from the museum.
The crime remains unsolved — but over the weekend, a viral video circulating social media gave some the idea that federal investigators had found the stolen artwork.
The video — which depicts FBI agents confiscating the stolen Rembrandt Masterpiece from an art gallery in New York City — is part of the marketing strategy for Eric Aronson's new movie, "Any Day Now."
"I don't know, I heard it was real, but it might have something to do with my movie, as well," Aronson told NBC10 Boston.
The film, which premieres Monday night at The Somerville Theatre, is loosely based on the 1990 heist.
"I just made up a story based on some of these interesting characters that were around it, based on what I heard when I was growing up here, and I made this soup of fiction, and I put these fun characters together, and see what they would do to each other," said Aronson, who wrote, directed and produced the film.
Isabella Bible saw the video on TikTok and says she was not fooled.
"It's probably a really cool stunt for a really cool movie," she said.
And even though she and her friends weren't born when the heist happened, they say it's very fascinating and hope this social media video brings more attention to the infamous crime.
"That's, like, a really great way of actually advertising for something, obviously," said Adi Mc Kaskle.
"I do think it'll get people to be like, 'OK, Isabella Stewart Gardner, what's going on there?'" Bible said.
A spokesperson says the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum had no role in "Any Day Now" and said it is still offering a $10 million reward for the return of the 13 stolen works of art, holding out hope in getting the paintings back home.
