Edwin Boyd may have started robbing banks to provide for his family, but "Toronto's original gangster" soon got addicted to the fame and glory that came with the job, says Scott Speedman, the actor who portrays the notorious criminal in a new movie.

"I think the real guy definitely loved his wife and his kids but I think there was part of him that really needed to feel a certain amount of identity as this larger than life figure," said Speedman, during the movie's premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last fall.

"I think the first robbery was about the money but after that I think it was about the drug of the rush. I think that's where the performance comes from."

"Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster" follows the real-life story of how Boyd gained notoriety for his "Hollywood-style" bank heists.

When the movie begins we see Second World War veteran Boyd struggling to make ends meet as a bus driver.

With aspirations in acting, Boyd decides to paint his face with makeup and head into a bank with a gun to see if he can pull off a risky real-life performance with a potentially huge payoff. He does, and it propels him to try it again, but this time with a newfound sense of confidence.

Jumping over the counter, dancing and flirting with the female bank tellers are all part of his theatrical act.

But while Boyd was completely comfortable dancing up a storm, Speedman admits it was something he did not share with his character.

"I've still yet to see that scene. That's one where I just sort of look at the floor," says Speedman with a laugh. "But it's fun to do that stuff. I had a good time doing it for sure."

Boyd does eventually get caught and while he is in jail, he meets another war vet named Lenny Jackson (Kevin Durand), who was also struggling to integrate back into society.

They, along with Val Kozak (Joseph Cross), escape from Toronto's Don Jail and head out to rob more banks as the newly formed "Boyd Gang."

They were caught and put back in jail after members of the gang were involved in the murder of a police officer -- Boyd was not with them that day -- but they all managed to escape once again, prompting a massive manhunt in 1952.

Boyd was eventually caught and was paroled after serving 10 years in jail, while his two friends Lenny and Val were hanged to death.

Though Toronto-raised Speedman wasn't familiar with the story until he read the script, it was a subject very close to director Nathan Morlando's heart.

Morlando, who also wrote the screenplay for his debut feature film, first heard about the Boyd legend growing up in Toronto, and continued to be interested in the story while doing his master's degree at York University. By chance, his professor knew someone who could contact the real-life Boyd, who had since moved to Victoria, B.C., with a new identity and was working as a bus driver.

The two began a lengthy phone relationship before eventually meeting and Morlando says Boyd was reluctant to talk about his bank robbing days at first.

"If you kept the questions superficial and you talked about the bank robbery, he was glad to talk about that but to go deeper, that took time."

Morlando also got to know Boyd's daughter Carolyn and his former (and now deceased) wife Doreen, portrayed by Kelly Reilly in the film.

Boyd died in 2002 at the age of 88 and Morlando is grateful he had the chance to connect with him before he passed away.

"It was really, really fortunate," he says.

Morlando says it was very important to him that he got the story right for the family's sake.

"I was very nervous to show (Carolyn) the film because if she didn't like it, that would be it for me, but she loved it . . . She thinks it's very close to what she experienced. She thought it was a very compassionate understanding of her father and her mom. That was the ultimate validation and we got it just before we premiered."

The movie, which won the award for best first Canadian feature at TIFF, was shot in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., a place that Morlando says provided the perfect backdrop.

"The cold made for a very beautiful aesthetic and it toughened the environment and isolation. It really brought those qualities to the film we were after."

Morlando says this is an important story for people to see and he believes even though it took place several decades ago, there is a universal quality to the story.

"He's a man who returns from war, so he's true of any man returning from war for me. And the conditions that created him are conditions that are occurring today."

Morlando adds that the film is, at its core, a tragic love story.

"(Boyd) didn't rob banks just for the money. He robbed banks because he enjoyed robbing banks. He loved the thrill . . . he couldn't give that up and that's the problem.

Trying to balance the addiction with family life, was for me, the story."