Lee Byung-hun is likely best known to many in the West for his Hollywood work on the action-focused “G.I. Joe” and “Red” franchises, but has been making films and television in Korea for decades. Notably, the mega-popular Netflix series “Squid Game” and Park Chan-wook‘s latest release, “No Other Choice,” which was released in the U.S. by NEON. He’s now been tapped to lead a peroid marital arts action film with the working title “Nambeol” (might not stick and could see a name change down the line).
Variety shared the news of the fictional period project that sees a group of Korean soldiers on a rescue mission to the Japanese island of Tsushima (the location that many will recognize from the wildly popular PlayStation video game “Ghost of Tsushima”) as they go up against Japanese pirates (historically known for raiding coastal Korean villages, similar to Vikings). It will be set during the early Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) and marks the directing debut of veteran cinematographer Lee Mo-gae, with Hive Media Corp. producing.
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“Centers on a unit of nine soldiers, drawn from across the military hierarchy, dispatched to Tsushima Island to bring home Koreans taken prisoner by Japanese pirate groups. The title draws on a historical term for a southward military expedition. The narrative is fictional but rooted in a documented period of instability during the early Joseon era, when the new dynasty faced relentless pirate incursions along its southern coastline and was compelled to answer them through a combination of military campaigns and negotiation.”
In the pic, we’ll see Lee in the role of Im Eok, “the taciturn, battle-hardened commander of the warrior unit at the heart of the rescue operation.”
The first-time feature director previously worked as director of photography on visually striking Korean films such as “I Saw The Devil,” “A Tale of Two Sisters,” “Illang: The Wolf Brigade” (a live-action adaptation of the grim Japanese anime), and comedic Western “The Good, the Bad, the Weird.”
We cannot wait to see stills/footage from ‘Nambeol’ and learn more about its supporting cast, as it sounds like we’re looking at some more action-packed eyecandy on the way, with filming expected to begin later in the year.
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
