'Crazy Rich Asians' Director Plotting His Own Thailand Cave Rescue Movie
Jon M. Chu, the director of “Crazy Rich Asians,” says he’s planning to make his own movie about the survival and rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped in Thailand’s Tham Luang Cave.
“I refuse to let Hollywood #whitewashout the Thai Cave rescue story,” Chu wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, hours after news emerged that the Christian film studio Pure Flix Entertainment was scouting the rights to the story.
Pure Flix CEO Michael Scott said he envisioned creating a “major Hollywood film with A-list stars.”
I refuse to let Hollywood #whitewashout the Thai Cave rescue story! No way. Not on our watch. That won’t happen or we’ll give them hell. There’s a beautiful story abt human beings saving other human beings. So anyone thinking abt the story better approach it right & respectfully.
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) July 11, 2018
According to Variety, Chu has partnered with Ivanhoe Pictures to make a competing movie about the rescue mission. The magazine said Ivanhoe is “currently in talks with the most senior officials in Thailand,” as well as multiple film studios that have expressed interest, about the project.
Chu tweeted a link to the Variety story on Wednesday and said that while it was too “early to discuss,” he believed the cave rescue story was “too important [to] let others dictate who the real heroes are.”
In a follow-up tweet, the 38-year-old Asian-American director said he “couldn’t just sit here watching how others would ‘interpret’ this important story.”
Its a bit early 2truly discuss but the biggest lesson I learned frm making #CrazyRichAsians is that we must tell our stories especially the important ones so history doesnt get it wrong.This one is too important 2 let others dictate who the real heroes are https://t.co/ZmnSBFvPI3
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) July 12, 2018
We have the power to not only MAKE history but be the historians that RECORD it too. So that it’s told correctly and respectfully. Couldn’t just sit here watching how others would “interpret” this important story. https://t.co/kRv5k9plDU
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) July 12, 2018
Why did it take me 38 years to realize... we can fight back. https://t.co/AqmVANFVDN
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) July 12, 2018
Twelve members of the Wild Boars junior soccer team and their 25-year-old coach were freed from Thailand’s Tham Luang Cave earlier this week after spending two weeks trapped inside the flooded cave system.
The rescue mission involved more than 100 engineers, divers, rescue workers and volunteers who came from across Thailand and around the world to lend a helping hand.
One volunteer diver, former Thai navy SEAL Saman Kunan, died last week while placing oxygen tanks deep inside the cave.
New video shows just how dangerous the Thai cave rescue was https://t.co/LlLh4suKL9 pic.twitter.com/wa3PpEdmh5
— CNN International (@cnni) July 12, 2018
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.