Universal Picks Up Sci-Fi Project With 'Fast Five's' Justin Lin Producing (Exclusive)

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Justin Lin

Universal has acquired an untitled sci-fi crime thriller project from Bobby Glickert, a former assistant turned burgeoning filmmaker. Scott Stuber and Fast Five helmer Justin Lin are producing.

Glickert wrote the outline for the pitch and will direct. He'll also be a producer. The studio will search for a writer to pen the screenplay.

The pick-up brings additional heat to Glickert, who was a P.A. on Transformers and Iron Man, then acted as an assistant to Lin on Fast & Furious. In between, he directed a couple of short films: the action-tinged The Descendent and the horror tale Road to Moloch.

Glickert jumped up several rungs last July when he, with Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes partners attached as producers, set up a spec sci-fi project at Paramount. That untitled project is still in development.

The new project’s details are being kept secret but speaking to Heat Vision, Lin said: “Taking a step back, as a viewer, the tone and the gritty approach to the sci-fi genre taken here is something that hasn’t been seen in a while.”

Insiders say the project is in the vein of the Michael Mann crime thriller Heat and the Jason Bourne spy-action movies.

Lin said even when Glickert was an assistant, they always talked about projects. “We’ve always shared information and wanted to be part of something we could start from the ground up.”

Part of the appeal for Lin and Glickert is to work with people of like minds in a fun and creative environment, something that doesn’t always happen in the corporate culture.

“When this project gets going, this core group is going to be poeple who’ve I worked with and who’s he’s worked with,” said Lin. “And this will be good to do on a studio film.”

The project was brought into Stuber Pictures by Nick Nesbitt and Michael Clear, with Jon Mone overseeing for the company. Jeff Kirschenbaum and Jay Polidoro will shepherd for the studio. 

Glickert is repped by WME and manager Tariq Merhab.