Justin Lin Is Returning To Indie Cinema With The Last Days Of John Allen Chau

Justin Lin may be the foremost director of the "Fast and Furious" franchise, but he's taking a break from the Hollywood big leagues for his next film: an indie movie about the misguided missionary John Allen Chau. Before helming half of the entries in one of the most successful blockbuster series in modern times, Lin directed indie movies that centered on the Asian-American communities of Southern California, including the quirky comedy "Shopping for Fangs" and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-nominated "Better Luck Tomorrow."

Lin directed "Shopping for Fangs" with Quentin Lee when they were both students in UCLA's film school in 1997. The film marks the acting debut of John Cho, who would go on to work with Lin on his follow-up feature, "Better Luck Tomorrow," as well as years later on "Star Trek Beyond." "Better Luck Tomorrow," a drama about an aimless group of Asian-Americans who throw their successes away to enter a life of crime, made a splash when it premiered at Sundance in 2002 and earned the attention of major studio distributors Paramount and MTV Films. The film is also notable for introducing Han Lue, played by Sung Kang, a character that's apparently the same as the Han Lue in the "Fast and Furious" movies. Lin's first major studio production was the critical and financial bomb "Annapolis" in 2006, but he would quickly prove his career wasn't over when "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" released that same year.

John Allen Chau was an evangelical missionary who visited the remote North Sentinel Island on what he believed was a God-given quest. It's illegal to visit the locale on the eastern edge of the Bay of Bengal, unless the Indian government approves distant monitoring from boat or plane. That's because the island is home to the Sentinelese, a native group that has remained isolated from the rest of the world. Chau, however, wanted to introduce Christianity to what he called "Satan's last stronghold," and flouted the law in order to spread the gospel.

Chau is unsurprisingly a controversial figure, seen as both a foolhardy and ignorant perpetrator of an aggressive and hubristic form of proselytizing and, at the same time, a young and impressionable nature lover who fell under the influence of hardline religious brainwashing. Missionary groups have criticized his actions as dangerous, though All Nations, the organization that trained Chau, issued a statement after his death wishing that his "sacrificial efforts will bear eternal fruit." Chau's father Patrick, a psychiatrist who fled China to escape forced labor during the Cultural Revolution, tried to discourage his son from going and blames his death on radical indoctrination from an "extreme Christianity." Author and journalist Alex Perry wrote an extensive report for Outside Magazine about Chau's journey, compiled through journal entries and interviews. Entitled "The Last Days of John Allen Chau," the article shares the same title as Lin's film and serves as the basis for the cinematic version of the story.

According to Deadline, Justin Lin is directing "The Last Days of John Allen Chau" based on a screenplay written by Ben Ripley, who's best known for his spec script for the highly successful sci-fi thriller "Source Code." Ripley has also written the scripts for the Dustin Hoffman-starring drama "Boychoir" and the 2017 remake of "Flatliners." So far, no actors have been cast and there are no distributors or other producers attached, though considering Lin's estimated total gross of over $2 billion worldwide with his work on the "Fast and Furious" franchise, the director shouldn't have much of a problem with funding or releasing his work. Lin is not returning to the director's chair for "Fast X," the penultimate film in the series, but he is signed on to direct the live-action adaptation of the popular anime "One Punch Man" for Sony. First, however, he will film the quieter, character-focused story that is "The Last Days of John Allen Chau."