Jeon Do-yeon Cast in 'The Housemaid'

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Award-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon will play the lead role in the upcoming remake of Kim Ki-young's classic film "The Housemaid", Miro Vision announced Sunday.

The project marks the comeback of the 36-year-old, who gave birth to her first child after appearing in the low-budget melodrama "My Dear Enemy" last year. She recently received a cultural merit medal from the French government, Chevalier-Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2007, she won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for "Secret Sunshine".

Featuring the provocative themes of adultery, murder and misguided desire, the original 1960 movie is hailed as a masterpiece that greatly influenced Korean cinema. A digitally restored version was screened at Cannes last year under the auspices of Martin Scorsese.

"I was startled. That this intensely, even passionately claustrophobic film is known only to the most devoted film lovers in the West is one of the great accidents of film history", the master filmmaker was quoted as saying.

The psychological thriller is about a destructive love triangle between a middle-class couple and their housemaid. Jeon will play the role of the alluring housemaid who seduces the husband.

The remake will mark the 50th anniversary of the original work.

The project will be helmed by Lim Sang-soo, the critically acclaimed director of "A Good Lawyer's Wife".

Meanwhile, Kim Su-hyun, the popular scriptwriter of hit TV soaps such as "Mom's Dead Upset", left the project, Yonhap News reported Monday.

"I was stabbed in the back", she wrote on her blog Saturday, referring to the changes director Lim had made to her script. She said she had accepted the offer from the film's producer and recommended director Lim herself.

"I was shocked when director Lim returned the script to me. It was not edited but completely rewritten", she said. Despite apologies from the filmmaker and production company, she decided to quit the movie.

"The Housemaid" is scheduled to go into production in December and is slated for release in theaters in May 2010.