Kim Yun-jin (Lost) and Park Hae-il (The Host) have been cast in the suspense thriller Duel [대결], which could also be translated Confrontation or Showdown.

The plot revolves around “a mother who must save her daughter, and a son who must protect his mother.” Kim’s character is blessed with a happy life, “but in the moment of danger, she gradually discovers the devil inside her.” In contrast, Park’s character has nothing and lives in rage and despair, “but as he lives his hardscrabble life he discovers his last hope.” (It’s an interesting juxtaposition, but I hope it doesn’t get too caught up in its perfect-opposites setup, which can result in oversimplification of character complexities.)

Kim’s last movie was Harmony, set in a women’s prison. Her last thriller was in 2007, Seven Days, in which she also played a mother saving her daughter. She said, “In Seven Days [my character] was a strong woman who could handle whatever came her way, but this time she’s very weak and emotional. It makes my heart break for the extreme situation that she finds herself in.” With Lost now over, I wonder if we’ll be seeing Kim ramping up her film career in Korea.

Park Hae-il, meanwhile, has a film coming out in the next week: the anticipated movie Moss (Ikki), which is a crime thriller that comes from director Kang Woo-seok of Silmido and Public Enemy Returns.

Duel entered filming on July 9 and is aiming for a release later this year.

Via Asia Economy

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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.

[Read more →]

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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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It’s kind of unnerving how all the news right now is either Choi Jin-shil‘s sudden death or the 13th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), and sometimes while looking through the news listings, it’s easy to confuse the two based on the thumbnail images. (Given the timing, as far as I can see, there were no overlaps in attendees — or at least, very few — between PIFF and Choi Jin-shil’s funeral viewing.)

October 2 saw the opening night to the nine-day festival; PIFF closes on October 10 and is the largest film festival in Korea, and one of the largest in Asia. Over the course of the week, more than 300 films will be screened from 60-plus countries.

Kim Rae-won and Han Eun-jung, above, came as brand models for PIFF sponsor L’Oreal. Other famous name actors showed up to the red carpet night; the opening film was Kazakhstan’s The Gift to Stalin, as well as the Hyun Bin & Lee Bo-young film I Am Happy.

PIFF’s red carpet >>

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Kim Hye-soo and Park Hae-il have a new movie coming out, and it looks gorgeous (speaking purely aesthetically). Modern Boy held its promotional press conference in Seoul on August 27 and, despite its name, takes place in bygone years. 1937, to be exact.

The period film is directed by Jung Ji-woo (Happy End, Wisdom Tooth) and centers around a government official (Park) and the “mysterious woman” he pursues after she disappears (Kim). The titular “modern boy” refers to Park’s character, who harbors more interest in romanticism than his country’s independence.

At the press conference, both lead actors and the director had nothing but praise for one another. Kim Hye-soo talked about the director’s close attention to detail and Park Hae-il’s pure personality, and how she and Park got along comfortably despite this being their first project together. Likewise, Park returned the compliments, saying, “When I heard Kim Hye-soo was cast, I shouted in excitement. I’ve always wanted to work with her, and with us acting together on Modern Boy, we got off to a great start.”

The film opens October 2.

More presscon photos and movie stills >>

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