While Hollywood seems to be gaining ground at the Korean box office in 2008, a growing number of Korean stars are invading Hollywood's home turf this year, bringing Korean talent into view on the world stage. Local celebrities such as Jeon Ji-hyeon, Lee Byeon-heon, Jung Ji-hoon (Rain), Jang Dong-gun, and Korean-American Daniel Henney are currently filming or have already wrapped roles in major US studio productions.
Actress Jeon, going by her English name Gianna Jun, recently completed the shooting of her lead role in "Blood: The Last Vampire", a US – Hong Kong co-production set in the Tokyo of 1970. Jeon plays Saya, a vampire working for a covert US government agency that hunts and destroys demons. She is assigned to a military school where she must find out which of her fellow classmates is a demon in disguise.
The English-language horror-thriller will be model-turned-actress Jeon's Hollywood debut. Rising to celebrity status with her 2001 Korean feature "My Sassy Girl", Jeon's fame spread throughout Asia and she went on to star in several more features including "Windstruck" (2004) and "Daisy" (2006). The highly anticipated Blood is currently in post-production and is slated to be released in June 2009.
Meanwhile, actor and pop-sensation Jung Ji-hoon (a.k.a. Rain) made his Hollywood debut this spring with a supporting role in the Wachowski brothers' futurist thriller "Speed Racer", which crashed and burned at the box office. That hasn't dampened the energetic performer's spirits. He is currently filming his lead role in the Wachowski and Joel Silver-produced "Ninja Assassin".
Rain plays Raizo, an orphan who leans the Ninja tradition only later to turn his back on it. The film is being directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) and is shooting in Berlin, Germany. Rain went through rigorous training to prepare for his role in the martial arts film. The actor is known all over Asia and in the US in his pop-incarnation Rain. He starred in Korean TV drama Full House before making his film debut in director Park Chan-wook's "I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK" in 2006. Ninja Assassin is expected to be ready for release in January 2009.
Top Korean star Lee Byeon-heon will take on a role similar to that of his colleagues Jeon and Rain. He is currently filming scenes in his Hollywood debut, G.I. Joe, an adaptation of the popular action-hero comic book series. Like Jun in Vampire, his character is a member of an elite US military unit, and like Jung, he will be playing a ninja with a troubled past.
As 'Storm Shadow', Lee joins the G.I. Joe team of highly trained recruits, each with his own specialty skill. Their job is to take on an evil and powerful criminal syndicate led by Cobra, a notorious arms dealer. Lee's character, Storm Shadow, is well known to readers of the comic and was even spun-off into its own series.
Lee is a popular star at home and all across Asia. He has starred in films such as "Once in a Summer" (2006), Kim Ji-woon's "A Bittersweet Life" (2005) and Kim's upcoming release, "The Good, the Bad, the Weird", the must-see 'oriental western' of the summer. Lee is also starring in a France-US co-production called "I Come With the Rain", by Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung.
The big-budget G.I. Joe is a Paramount Pictures production and is directed by Stephen Sommers whose previous films include Van Helsing and The Jungle Book. The film also stars Channing Tatum, Rachel Nichols, and Dennis Quaid. It is slated for release in the summer of 2009.
Actor Jang Dong-gun plays a lone assassin of the warrior breed, in his first Hollywood project, Laundry Warrior. The big-budget (US $47 million) fantasy-action feature is a US-Korea-New Zealand co-production. It also stars celebrity actress Kate Bosworth and Geoffrey Rush. Set in the American badlands, Jang plays an Asian warrior hiding out in a small western town where he encounters a knife-throwing circus beauty (Bosworth) and the town drunk (Rush).
Jang is known in Korea for his roles in the hit films "Friend" (2001) and "Taegukgi" (2004) and for his international debut in the Chinese blockbuster, "The Promise" (2005). He has recently wrapped shooting on Laundry Warrior, which was shot mainly in New Zealand. The film, co-produced by Barrie Osborne, a force behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Lee Joo-ik ("Seven Swords") is the feature debut of Korean-American Sngmoo Lee (Lee Sang-moo). The film is now in post-production with a release date expected in the second half of 2008.
With comic-book series all the rage, we can't leave out Daniel Henney's present project, X-Men Origins: Wolverine a prequel to 20th Century Fox's successful X-Men franchise. Henney will play 'Agent Zero', a mutant member of the Weapon X program with excellent marksmanship and the power to control electricity. Like Jang's Warrior, the film is also shooting in New Zealand. Directed by Gavin Hood, and produced by lead star Hugh Jackman, the film is slated for a worldwide release on May 1, 2009.
Henney, 28, is an American-born biracial model-turned-actor who rose to fame after moving to Korea, where he made himself a familiar face in Korean living rooms by starring in MBC TV drama "My Lovely Sam Soon" ("My Name is Kim Sam-soon") in 2005. He made his big screen debut starring opposite Uhm Jung-hwa in the 2006 romantic-comedy "Seducing Mr. Perfect". Last year saw him win public and critical praise for his second feature "My Father", which was a hit across the country.
So be prepared for a strong Korean presence in Hollywood that is currently underway and will be in full swing by 2009, by which time all of the above films will have come to a screen near you. Whether as a sultry vampire, stealthy ninja, warrior on the run, or mutant superhero, Korean talent is gaining a global audience and Korean faces may one day be as familiar as a Pitt, a Clooney, or a Jolie.
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