Having spent the best part of the last decade helming big blockbusters such as Star Trek Beyond and multiple entries in the Fast & Furious franchise, Justin Lin is returning to his indie roots for his next project. He will direct The Last Days of John Allen Chau as his next film. Ben Ripley will write the script.
Based on the Outside Magazine article of the same name by Alex Perry, the film will follow Chau, who believes he has been chosen to save the souls of the uncontacted tribe of North Sentinel Island, a protected site in the Indian Ocean where outsiders are forbidden. He embarks on a journey to proselytize the Sentinelese in his desperate search for identity, purpose, and belonging.
Despite helping revive the Fast & Furious franchise and becoming a bit of a blockbuster guru, Lin always made it known to those close to him that he wanted to get back to his indie roots at some point. He was just waiting for the right project, and The Last Days of John Allen Chau is exactly that.
That said, he’s not completely stepping away from big tentpole movies. He’s still working on the adaptation of One Punch Man for Sony. A new draft of that script is reportedly due in the next few weeks, and Sony is very high on the project but wanted to give Lin the chance to direct this. Once he’s finished, he’ll return to One Punch Man.
Ripley’s other screenwriting credits include Jake Gyllenhaal sci-fi thriller Source Code, the Flatliners remake with Elliot Page, and Boychoir with Kathy Bates and Dustin Hoffman.
This will be Lin’s first non-franchise project since he directed 2007 mockumentary Finishing The Game. It will be interesting to see what he’s learned from the blockbuster genre, and how he now uses those tools on a smaller project. Filming on The Last Days of John Allen Chau is expected to begin this spring across multiple countries.
#Peace.Love.TheLastDaysOfJohnAllenChau
