Justin Lin to direct film on Asian American missionary killed by uncontacted island tribe
By Carl Samson
Justin Lin is reportedly returning to his indie roots to direct “The Last Days of John Allen Chau,” a film about the Asian American evangelist killed by the indigenous people of India’s North Sentinel Island.
The news comes from Deadline, whose sources name Ben Ripley as the screenwriter. Filming is expected to begin this spring.
Chau, a 26-year-old missionary from Alabama, was shot dead with bows and arrows on Nov. 17, 2018, after kayaking alone to the isolated island, defying non-contact laws of the Indian government.
His notes revealed that he sought to convert the reclusive Sentinelese — an uncontacted tribe who are believed to have thrived on their own for 60,000 years — to Christianity and “establish the kingdom of Jesus on the island.”
This is not a pointless thing – the eternal lives of this tribe are at hand and I can’t wait to see them around the throne of god worshiping in their own language as Revelations 7:9-10 states. I love you all and I pray none of you love anything in this world more than Jesus Christ.
The upcoming film is reportedly based on author and journalist Alex Perry’s article of the same title for Outside Magazine.
In that piece, Perry introduces Chau as “a young adventurer driven to extremes by unshakable faith.”
Lin, whose credits include “Fast & Furious” and “Star Trek Beyond,” is also slated to helm Sony Pictures’ live-action “One Punch Man,” which reportedly awaits a new script draft in the coming weeks. However, sources told Deadline the studio wanted to give Lin the chance to work on “The Last Days” first.
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