After making nothing but “Fast and Furious” movies for the last five years, Justin Lin may finally get a chance to venture off into new territory. Warner Bros has won a bidding war to acquire the rights to an upcoming novel by "The Breach" author Patrick Lee, with Lin attached to direct.
The novel does not appear to have a title at the moment, but apparently it’s part of a three-book deal that the author has with Macmillan Publishers. The novel, which is described as a “character-driven thriller,” follows ex-special operative Sam Dryden as he “runs into a mysterious young girl who is not quite what she seems, and he embarks on a journey to keep her safe from a powerful government agent intent on hunting her down.”
While the project doesn’t appear to stray too far from Justin Lin’s wheelhouse, it should still be interesting to see what he can bring to it. He’s succeeded in turning the "Fast and Furious" franchise into a reliable source of income for Universal Pictures, with “Fast Five” being the most profitable one to date. Now it looks as if he’s ready to move on. It wasn’t so long ago that he was attached to direct “Terminator 5” for Annapurna Pictures, but that deal fell through due to scheduling conflicts with “Fast and Furious 6.”
Since then, it’s been hard to discern just what Justin Lin will do after “Fast and Furious 6.” Aside from this untitled Patrick Lee novel, he’s been attached to futuristic thriller “Hibernation,” manga adaptation “Lone Wolf & Club”, and sci-fi comedy “Subdivision,” among countless others. Considering they went through all that trouble to acquire the film rights to Patrick Lee’s novel, will Warner Bros be able to get the ball rolling before Lin becomes preoccupied with something else? Will the inevitable "Fast & Furious 7" get in the way? At this point, your guess is as good as ours. [Deadline]
