Peter Luo's Starlight has set Thai martial arts / action star Tony Jaa (Furious 7, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Kill Zone 2) for the lead role in the action/crime/thriller trilogy – an Untitled Tony Jaa Assassin Project.
In the first installment of what will be a three-picture franchise, Jaa will play a legendary assassin who disappeared three years ago and becomes the target of all criminal organizations and law enforcement agencies. The story will unfold in an unconventional structure packed with thrilling action and suspense. As the manhunt accelerates, the mystery of the assassin's identity is slowly unraveled. In this franchise, as layers of truth are revealed one by one, the end game will come into sight for audiences.
The trilogy is based on an original idea by Peter Luo with Jaa in mind as the star. A Muay Thai master whose formidable martial arts skills have dazzled action lovers in such films as Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong (aka The Protector), Jaa is recognized as an heir apparent to the legacies of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, and even developed a whole new form of Muay Thai (dubbed “Muay Thai Cochisai” for using the movements of an elephant) with movie audiences in mind.
Said Luo: “Tony is the perfect artist to lead this fast moving, adrenaline rush of a movie, where the physical demands match the traditional leading man visceral performance needs. He'll be able to demonstrate his full, and extremely impressive, repertoire of skills to elevate this story, which will have inherent cross-border appeal globally“.
Producing the trilogy are Peter Luo (Crazy Rich Asians, Midway, Marshall, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Sony's upcoming UMMA), Tony Jaa (Furious 7, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Kill Zone 2) and Mike Selby (All I See Is You, Triple Threat). Starlight is financing the franchise.
Tony Jaa is represented by the Gersh Agency, SC Film Films Thailand, WonderStreet management, and law firm Brecheen Feldman Breimer Silver & Thompson.
An advocate for bringing Asian culture to Hollywood, Starlight CEO Peter Luo operates out of the company's offices in Beverly Hills, and has brokered content deals with prominent filmmakers such as Robert Zemeckis, Sam Raimi, Sylvester Stallone, James Wan, F. Gary Gray, Roland Emmerich, and Jon M. Chu.
The company's newest program (‘Stars Collective') helps to promote the next generation of diverse voices and creative storytellers, and really accelerate the female power movement. The ‘Stars Collective' program supports up to 50 emerging filmmakers, paving the way for new aesthetics driven by top young creative talent and powerful female voices.
Starlight has been involved in a wide range of critically and commercially successful films including “Marshall,” starring Chadwick Boseman; John Chu's “Crazy Rich Asians”, the sci/fi horror hit “Greta”, starring Chloe Grace Moretz; “Midway”, the WWII action/drama starring Woody Harrelson, Patrick Wilson, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, and Luke Evans; and the horror/mystery/thriller “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” from Guillermo del Toro.
Upcoming films for Starlight include the supernatural horror film “UMMA” for Sony Pictures, which is a Starlight collaboration with Sam Rami, and stars Sandra Oh; “Golden Empire,” starring Donnie Yen as the world's most successful multinational drug lord; and the powerful COVID-19 documentary feature titled “Wuhan Wuhan”, produced by Academy Award®-winner Donna Gigliotti, Donnie Yen, Academy Award®-nominee Diane Moy Quon, and SA Inc.
