Independent filmmaker Michael Hoad is developing The Man From The Mountain, signaling his move into feature film territory for his Lost Boys Films independent banner.
The film is billed as an ode to late 80s fish-out-of-water action movies and British crime stories, with heavy influences from Korean noire cinema, and odd-couple buddy features. Hoad is now a year-and-a-half into the project, and currently has two rising talents on board: actor and stunt performer Jon Xue Zhang and actor Serhat Metin. Soner Metin will serve as cinematographer.
Zhang will star as Chen, a Chinese warrior monk who emerges from mountain-top isolation, arriving to London upon receiving an urgent letter from his long lost sister. Metin will tackle the role of Dillon, a struggling comic book artist with problems of his own.
The two discover each other during their unrelenting quest as they tread through London’s seedy underbelly, confronting ruthless gangsters and sex traffickers, all in a dauntless effort to find Chen’s sister before it is too late.
Hoad is an actor and stunt performer respectively credited for films and projects including Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, David Newton’s The Take Down, Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy, and shortfilms such as The Division with Jean-Paul Ly and Law Plancel, and in-house projects such as Insurrection and Blood Choke Retribution. He will next appear in The Gardener, with Robert Bronzi and Gary Daniels.
“I’m really excited to start making my feature film directorial debut ‘The Man From The Mountain’,” says Hoad. “What I would really love for this film is to showcase some lesser known Chinese martial arts and also teach the audience about the more spiritual aspects of martial arts that has often lost in the modern era. Additionally my main aspiration for this film is to teach the young generation of London that no matter what circumstances they’re facing there is a way past their life challenges, however difficult.”
Zhang is an actor with a specialty in martial arts and stunt performance. His credits include, but aren’t limited to, 47 Ronin, TV’s 24: Live Another Day, Marvel’s Doctor Strange, David Leitch’s Fast And Furious Presents: Hobbs And Shaw, and Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen. He also filmed on the set of Marvel entry, The Eternals, which wrapped in February, and recently worked on Paul Raschid’s Wales Interactive film project, The Complex.
Next to collaborating with Hoad, Metin’s own raft of thrill-seeking film and television roles recently tacked on his own appearance in Gangs of London, from Gareth Evans, HBO and Sky Atlantic, which premiered in the UK in April, and is slated for broadcast via Cinemax in the United States later this year.
This article is updated from previous version using a correct lead pic to highlight casting/headshots.