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Variety’s Naman Ramachandran is reporting some big things this weekend out of Busan with actor Xie Miao. A new martial arts crime thriller is now in development for Miao, in which he will make his English-language debut.
Nancy Xu (“The Rip,” “The Garfield Movie”) whose LA-based Stars Collective is steering the project, is producing, along with Peter Luo (“Malignant,” “Umma”), Wayne Wei Jiang (“The Meg”) and Wei Junzi (“Eye for an Eye,” “The Furious”). Further details such as title, logline and director are scant at the moment as things are in early phases.
“Xie Miao is the perfect artist to lead this fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled movie, with real physical requirements only a professional of his caliber can perform,” said Xu.
“Xie Miao is a powerful and distinctive action star. ‘The Furious’ showcased his appeal in hard-hitting action, and this new project will broaden the scope of the story and give his character more room, letting audiences around the world see even more of what he can do,” said Wei.
The project marks the latest for Xie, best known as the martial arts wunderkind who came up in the 1990s alongside Jet Li in My Father Is A Hero and New Legend Of Shaolin. Xie stepped away briefly until 2006, having accrued more screen credits in the years since.
Namely, Xie appears the Fight Against Evil trilogy, which bookended the Chinese cop franchise back in January. He also stars back-to-back in both of the Eye For An Eye films, and led the action ensemble for Kenji Tanigaki’s The Furious for Lionsgate.
The latter, which also stars Joe Taslim, Joey Iwanaga, Yayan Ruhian and Brian Le, drew massive success and momentum enough for exec producer Bill Kong to stir sequel prospects back in June. Tanigaki is also circling a reimagining of The Man From Nowhere with Taslim, and is also tapped to helm The Reckoner with Peter Dinklage set to star.
Read more at Variety.