EXCLUSIVE: Another movie just got fast tracked at STX Entertainment which has been ramping up its slate in record time. Jackie Chan is in final negotiations to star in the action thriller The Foreigner with a short list of directors circling which is said to include Nick Cassavetes. The casting is perfect for a company that is being financed and in business with Chinese on a slate of films; Chan is one of the most beloved action stars to come out of China.

The Foreigner, which is expected before the cameras in October, is based on the book The Chinaman by Stephen Leather about a humble restaurant owner in London’s Chinatown who is forced to push his moral and physical boundaries to track down the group of rogue Irish terrorists responsible for the death of his beloved daughter after the justice system fails him. The book was adapted by David Marconi (Enemy of the State, Mission Impossible 2).

STX has clearly implemented a “respect the capital” mantra, putting together modestly budgeted films with A-list talent. We expect Huayi Brothers Media Corp to be involved in The Foreigner. The Chinese concern pacted earlier this year with STX in a three-year deal that begins in 2016 for 12 to 15 projects per year.

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STX Entertainment has put a number of films into the pipeline and have made good on all announcements it has made to date, unusual by Hollywood standards and actually refreshing. So far in the company’s coffers is writer-director Gary Ross’ Free State Of Jones starring Matthew McConaughey; a remake of the 2010 Oscar Best Foreign Language Film The Secret In Their Eyes with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts; the psychological thriller The Gift with Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall; and the horror film The Boy from William Brent Bell (The Devil Inside). Huayi Brothers are STX’s partner on all of these films, too.

Chan is repped by WME. Marconi is repped by Bryan Brucks at Luber Roklin.