Justin Lin’s ‘Two For the Money,’ Starring Charlize Theron and Daniel Craig, Sparks Bidding War

There, apparently, was a major studio bidding war for — wait for it — director Justin Lin’s next film.

Lin, who broke out in 2003 with the strong Sundance entry “Better Luck Tomorrow,” has directed six ‘Fast and the Furious,’ movies, but recently quit, no doubt to cleanse his artistic soul. Now, all of a sudden, one of his next projects has been the talk of the town.

Netflix, Amazon, and Apple were said to be desperately trying to nab Lin’s “Two For the Money,” a heist thriller with an enticing package: Charlize Theron and Daniel Craig starring in the film. Apple finally won the sweepstakes.

I get it. This is really more a case about nabbing a film starring Theron and Craig, but is the large sum of money that’s been dished out for this thing going to be worth it for Apple? Lin won’t bring them awards and prestige, and the film itself sounds fairly routine.

Dan Mazeau, who co-wrote “Fast X” with Lin, is writing the “Two For The Money” script, according to THR. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the project is said to be about the relationship between two career thieves over the course of three big heists.

Lin and Mazeau came up with the idea for the film while writing “Fast X” and pitched it to Theron. This film is said to be one of the reasons why Lin left “Fast X,” the other being a possible feud with star Vin Diesel.

Before Lin embarks on this latest blockbuster, he will embark on a deep, soul-searching artistic cleanse by directing the indie “The Last Days of John Allen Chau”, which is expected to start production early next year in Thailand.