Havana Rose Liu Stars In Crime Pilot Ordered By FX From Hiro Murai & Wong Kar Wai

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s an interesting order: FX has set Havana Rose Liu to star in a crime drama pilot from Widow’s Bay Emmy winner Hiro Murai and famed Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai that shoots in Bangkok later this month.

Developed from an original story by Wong, the pilot revolves around a petty criminal who inherits a share in a mysterious and powerful corporation. She then vaults into a world of unimaginable wealth but also constant danger from a ruthless elite who sees her as the ultimate threat. It comes from Searchlight Television.

Murai will direct from a script by Charles Yu (Interior Chinatown) and Julia Cho (Turning Red, Elio). Yu, Cho and Murai exec produce alongside Carver Karaszewski, Claudia Shin, Kate Dean, Paul Schwartzman and Wong.

Liu has recently scored roles in numerous projects from top directors, including Nicolas Winding Ref (Her Private Hell), Daniel Roher (Tuner), and John Carney (Power Ballad). She broke out in Emma Seligman’s Bottoms, opposite Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri. Upcoming, she has Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, which releases December 11 after premiering at Telluride; Jenny Suen’s Peaches, opposite Sophie Thatcher, for Coco Francini and Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films; and Arkasha Stevenson’s untitled bachelor party horror film for A24. She is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content, Brillstein Partners, and Schreck Rose Dapello.

Three weeks ago, Murai made history by becoming the first Asian director to win the Comedy Directing Emmy for his work on Widow’s Bay, the hit horror comedy series for Apple, which he also exec produces. The Emmy was his third; the show itself scored 14, the most ever won by a comedy series in one year. A longtime fixture at FX, he’s more recently been directing and executive producing their drama miniseries The Marriage Plot from Will Arbery, based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides. He is repped by UTA, Untitled, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

Wong Kar Wai is the auteur behind such iconic films as Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love. His most recent major projects are the Chinese drama series Blossoms Shanghai and the Oscar-nominated 2013 film The Grandmaster. He’s repped by CAA, Film Agents, Gang Tyre Ramer, and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum.

Yu is repped by UTA, Theresa Kang of Blue Marble Management, and Robby Koch and Ken Richman of Hansen Jacobson; Cho by WME and Robby Koch at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.