Having wrapped up the six-season run of his ABC family comedy Fresh Off the Boat, Randall Park is looking into the future and lining up some exciting new projects. The WandaVision star is set to make his feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Adrian Tomine’s acclaimed graphic novel Shortcomings. The comic tells the story of three Bay Area youngsters – Miko Hayashi, Alice Kim, and Ben Tanaka – who go through a series of tumultuous relationships all over the country. It has a delightful combination of heartfelt humanity and hysterical humor.
According to Park, his adaptation will be an “updated, modern take” on the source material. “In these characters, I see versions of Asian Americans in my own life,” he said. “The ones I love and the ones I just kind of tolerate.” Tomine said that he’d avoided the notion of adapting Shortcomings for a while, but that Park and the producers “impressed me with their passion, insight, and vision for this film.”
While Park has been a popular comedy star for years now, having starred in Fresh Off the Boat since 2015 along with supporting roles in movies like The Night Before and Aquaman, he’s recently enjoyed renewed popularity following his fan-favorite turn as FBI Agent Jimmy Woo in Marvel’s WandaVision. He also had one of the most memorable guest-starring roles in The Office’s nine-season run, playing “Asian Jim” in a hilariously elaborate prank against Dwight, and made international headlines back in 2014 with his performance as Kim Jong-un in the wildly controversial political satire The Interview.
Tomine has written the screenplay for Shortcomings based on his own comic, which is considered a seminal work in Asian American literature. Roadside Attractions and Imminent Collision are onboard as production companies and Jennifer Berman, Howard Cohen, Eric d’Arbeloff, Michael Golamco, Hieu Ho, and Ryan Paine are all attached as producers alongside Park.
While Shortcomings will be the first movie Park has directed, he has helmed short films in the past and also directed himself and his co-stars in the episode “Commencement” from the final season of Fresh Off the Boat. He also co-wrote and co-starred in the Netflix romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe with Fresh Off the Boat writer Ali Wong, but that movie was directed by their showrunner, Nahnatchka Khan.
There’s no official release date for Shortcomings yet, but after developing the project with Tomine for some time, Park and his team of producers will be taking the movie to potential buyers within the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, Park’s voice will be heard in the upcoming PAW Patrol movie, in which he’ll co-star with Jimmy Kimmel, Tyler Perry, and Kim Kardashian.
WandaVision is now available on Disney Plus.
Source: Deadline