Formerly acclaimed director Lee Isaac Chung seems to be sticking with mainstream filmmaking. Do you blame him?
The “Minari” filmmaker went the blockbuster route with last year’s “Twisters,” which grossed over $370M worldwide in the summer, and he’s now closed a deal with Skydance to direct “The Traveler,” a feature adaptation of the sci-fi novel Traveler by Joseph Eckert (via Deadline).
‘Traveler’ is being described as an “intimate family drama that exponentially develops into a vast science fiction odyssey.” The novel explores the life of Scott Treder, a 47-year-old biology technician who begins experiencing involuntary jumps through time. Justin Rhodes (“Terminator: Dark Fate”) wrote the screenplay.
I’m now wondering what happened to Lee’s promise that he’d go back to smaller-scaled filmmaking after “Twisters.” Last year, he was working on a mid-budget film, starring Steven Yeun, and described as a “small love story,” with a screenplay penned by Eric Roth. Is that still happening? The success of “Twisters” might have changed those plans.