Robert Simons & Bill McGlashan in Final Negotiations with Jackie Chan

In exciting news for STX Entertainment with Robert Simons and Bill McGlashan, they are in final negotiations with Jackie Chan to star in the action thriller “The Foreigner.” Shooting is expected to start in October and the script is supposed to be based on Stephen Leather’s novel “The Chinaman” published in 1992. The story focuses on a restaurant owner in London’s Chinatown who wants to hunt down a group of Irish terrorists that killed his daughter.

STX was launched last year by film producer Robert Simonds and TPG managing partner Bill McGlashan with the goal of producing projects in the $10-80 million range. This area is virtually vacant in the studios, as they favor making massive superhero movies. STX hopes to release as many as 15 films each year by 2017. They have already lined up projects that include Matthew McConaughey (“The Free State of Jones”) and Julia Roberts (“The Secret in Their Eyes”).

For this venture with Jackie Chan, David Marconi wrote the adaptation. Chan, of course, brings a slew of credits with him including being in more than 150 films since the 1960s.

STX Entertainment with Robert Simons and Bill McGlashan has already lined up financial backing from venture capital firm and co-founder TPG, Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital and investors Gigo Pritzker and Beau Wrigley. They also have backing from China’s Huayi Brothers.