Last month, it was reported that the producers behind new Jackie Chan action thriller The Foreigner were in talks with Nick Cassavetes to direct the film, based on Stephen Leather’s novel The Chinaman. The movie is now untitled and Cassavetes is no longer circling, but it appears Martin Campbell is ready to take on the job instead.
This actually represents a full circle for the film, as Campbell was actually involved in its development before being lured away to tackle Relativity Media’s Hunter Killer. But with that company in financial dire straights, Hunter Killer is in limbo and Campbell is once again free to take on other projects.
Chan will play a restaurant owner in London’s Chinatown who is devastated in an attack orchestrated by rogue Irish terrorists. When the justice system brings him no satisfaction, he decides to track down the people responsible himself. With David Marconi and Peter Buchman adapting Leather’s novel, the film should be in production later this year.