It would seem 2005 is the year of three. Star Wars Episode 3 finally came and went. Mission: Impossible 3 is trying to get itself made. Pirates of the Caribbean 3 wraps shooting at the end of the year. Disney and Dreamworks are brainfunding third installments of the Toy Story and Shrek franchises as we speak. Now Universal Studios has its sights set on The Fast and the Furious 3, and is taking a suspiciously original take on the story this time around.

According to Variety, Universal has selected Justin Lin, a thirty something Taiwanese born director, to helm the project. Lin, who has built his still-budding career around the Asian-American sub culture, is currently in post-production on the James Franco/Donnie Wahlberg movie Annapolis. Furious 3 is purportedly set in Tokyo where an American street racer joins up with Japan's version of the underground racing community in a little pasttime called "drift racing" which is very dangerous, involves a lot of spinning out and apparently looks really cool on camera.   

What about the suspiciously (but refreshingly) original part? No Paul Walker! In fact, the studio says none of the original cast from either previous Fast and Furious film is being invited back. New story...new city...new cast. It just might work. Filming is set to take place across two continents (North America and Asia) later this year. No word yet on finding a replacement actor who can stand there and look as pretty while delivering as terrible a performance as Walker.