Randall Park and Daniel Dae Kim team up for an Asian American-led heist film

Forthcoming heist film will be the latest addition to a growing body of big studio Asian American-led productions

Actors Randall Park and Daniel Dae Kim are teaming up to produce and star in an Asian American-led heist film.

The currently untitled movie is written by Korean screenwriter Young Il Kim, who previously worked on the Showtime series Billions ​and wrote the Black List script Rodham. The Black List is an annual rundown, started in 2005 by studio executive Franklin Leonard, of Hollywood’s favourite unproduced screenplays.

According to Deadline, Amazon Studios came out on top in a “heated bidding” war against other studios and streaming services to win the rights to the film.

Kim and Park will lead an ensemble cast primarily made up of Asian American actors. Kim told Deadline, “We love heist movies. We want to be inclusive and we feel like there’s a story here to be told.”

While the film’s summary is still under wraps, the Lost star said, “I think it has nods to Ocean’s 11, The Full Monty, as well as Better Luck Tomorrow.”

The success of romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians last year heralded a growing list of Asian American-led films including Oscar-winner Parasite, the Golden Globe-nominated film The Farewell, and the Netflix teen hit To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.

Kim added, “There is an appetite to see this kind of a movie with an Asian American cast and that is a really promising sign of the times.”

Park and Kim previously starred opposite each other in Ali Wong’s romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe which landed on Netflix last year.

Park is famous for his portrayal of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the 2014 comedy The Interview with Seth Rogen and James Franco. He is also known for his role in Fresh Off the Boat, ABC’s critically acclaimed sitcom about an immigrant Taiwanese family adjusting to life in America in the 1990s.