Korean period actioner 'Duelist' aims overseas

Korean director Lee Myeong-se's upcoming movie, the historical martial arts epic 'Duelist' is being planned to be introduced in the US. According to the promotion agency, the interview clip of the director and the video clip of 'Duelist' were sent out to PBS, the US national broadcaster on July 23.

The agency said, "The clip has been aired in 250 major cities of 160 countries as well as in the US, boasting excellence of Korean films. I was told that the U.S. press who have seen the video clip of 'Duelist' were really impressed".

After a six-year hiatus to debut in Hollywood, Lee Myeong-se, director of 'Nowhere To Hide (1999)', was back to direct his first period martial arts movie, 'Duelist' shooting for the international market. Lee is joining fellow Asian filmmakers Chen Kaige (The Promise) and Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers) by directing a period martial arts movie to entice overseas audiences.

'Duelist' is a martial arts detective story set during Korea's Choson era (1392-1910). Actress Ha Ji-won has taken her experience playing a policewoman in the local, period television series 'Tamo' to the big screen by playing the film's protagonist, a female detective named Nam-sun, who investigates the forgery of coins and chases an assassin (Kang Dong-won) involved in the crime. One of Korea's top actors, Ahn Seong-gi (Musa, Arahan) is also starring.

The lead actors were required to perform most of their own stunts, where extensive training and prep work in advance of the actual shooting of action scenes took place.

With its crank-in on November 30 last year, shooting of 'Duelist', a co-production between Wellmade Entertainment and Production M, is set for local release on September 8 by Korea Pictures.

The Source : Koreacontent News Team