Song Seung-heon and Lee Min-ki have been cast as the leads of a Korean remake of Hong Kong noir film A Better Tomorrow, the classic 1986 John Woo crime thriller that starred Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, and Ti Lung.

The remake, Invincible [무적자], boasts a blockbuster budget of more than 10 billion won and comes from film company Fingerprint, which bought the rights to remake the film in 2006. At the time, director Jang Hyung-soo was attached; he is known for films like Rules of the Game and Everybody Has Secrets. However, now directing is Song Hae-sung of Maundy Thursday and Failan. Director Song and Song Seung-heon are reteaming after having once worked together a decade ago in 1999’s Calla. The film has been invested in by Japan’s Formula Entertainment, making this a multinational production that plans to release simultaneously throughout Asia.

Song Seung-heon will take the role originally acted by Chow Yun-fat, while Lee Min-ki takes Leslie Cheung’s. Ti Lung and Waise Lee’s roles are currently being cast. While the original was set in the Hong Kong gangster underworld, the remake features a North Korean defector who settles in the South and gets caught up in the world of organized crime.

This is Song Seung-heon’s next project after his drama comeback met with widespread success in East of Eden. Lee Min-ki, meanwhile, has had a great year with blockbuster Haeundae (as well as smaller films like Oishii Man) and also put out his first solo album.

Invincible hopes to begin filming at the end of the year in order to release in 2010.

Via My Daily

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Fans of Lee Min-ki already know of the actor’s penchant for music — he’s sung on a movie soundtrack, performed live onstage, and recorded a single (listen below). Therefore, it’s not such a surprise to hear that he’s got a debut album in the works, which is called “No Kidding” and goes on sale on August 11.

“No Kidding” will be Lee Min-ki’s debut not just as a singer but as a musician; he’s been working on developing his piano and guitar skills for several years. His title song is “영원한 여름” (Eternal Summer) and has already completed filming for its music video.

With this project and several films releasing in close succession, this is going to be one mighty busy summer for Lee Min-ki. Check out the short interview below the jump.

SONG OF THE DAY

FreeTEMPO & Sheean – “Power of Love” feat. Lee Min-ki, reposted from a prior post. [ Download ]

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The movie Billion [10억] seems to have adopted the English-language title A Million, which is odd since the title literally means “a billion.” I can only surmise that this is a rough conversion of money, since 1 billion won is a little less than 1 million dollars, which is the prize money in the plot of this reality-game-based thriller.

The plot is basically what you would get if you smooshed Survivor with The Most Dangerous Game: A group of contestants is dropped off on an island and made to compete against each other for a large cash prize. But in the hands of a psycho producer, the game takes a macabre turn.

When the film was first announced, the plot seemed okay, but what caught my attention was its star-studded cast, mixing up-and-comers with established Hallyu names: Shin Mina, Park Hae-il, Lee Min-ki, Park Hee-soon, Jung Yumi, Lee Chun-hee, and Go Eun-ah.

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Lee Min-ki (Romantic Island, Mixed-up Investigative Agency) is about to come out with his next movie, the Korea-Japan joint production Oishii Man, which co-stars Ikewaki Chizuru (Josee, the Tiger and the Fish).

The film follows a musician in a slump (Lee), who travels to a small town in Hokkaido, Japan, where he has an awkward first encounter with a young woman (Ikewaki) who lives in and operates a small boarding house with her grandmother. (Naturally, the two fall in love.)

In the first part of the trailer below, you can hear Lee singing the background music (as you may know, Lee is something of a music fan and has sung as the featured vocalist on a few songs here and there). Although the descriptions make the movie sound sedate and sad, the preview has a light and quirky vibe to it, which pretty is pretty much how I like my Lee Min-ki best.

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Woo, what a lineup. The new movie Billion has announced its cast, and what a cast it is.

The director is Jo Min-ho (Les Formidables, Jungle Juice), and the story follows eight men and women who participate in a “survival game” for a billion-won prize (which is in the vicinity of a million dollars). They arrive in Australia to find themselves stuck in a life-or-death game, in what sounds like a mix of Survivor and The Most Dangerous Game.

The plot is familiar, but with this cast, I’m hoping it will rise above generic horror-thriller fare to be something quite interesting. The actors are, in order of appearance on the photo above:

• Park Hae-il (Paradise Murdered, The Host), as the “sensitive outsider”;
• Shin Mina (Go Go 70, Devil), an upbeat and positive character;
• Park Hee-soon (Seven Days, Mixed-up Investigative Agency), the lunatic PD in charge of the survival game (and boy, will that be great — Park Hee-soon does menacing crazy incredibly well);
• Lee Min-ki (Romantic Island, Dal Ja’s Spring), a tough guy formerly of the marine corps;
• Jung Yumi (who was fantastic playing the gamine in the drama Que Sera Sera), once again playing naive; and
• “Chunderella” Lee Chun-hee (Humming, Great King Sejong) in the part of a cold-hearted fund manager.

 
I think the cast is playing a bit to type, but I’m okay with that because I can picture them perfectly, and the info has my interest already piqued.

The film begins filming mid-February and is aiming for a summer release.

Via E Daily

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