Director Kim Ji-woon, known best for his ultra-violent art-house gangster film 'A Bittersweet Life' and his horror-hit 'A Tale of Two Sisters' has set his next project on the plains of Manchuria. Described as an idiosyncratic "oriental western", the tentatively titled 'The Good, the Bad, the Weird' will begin shooting in early spring of next year.
The role of "the weird"will go to local star Song Kang-ho ("The Host"), whose last outing with KIM was six years ago, playing the lead in 'The Foul King'. SONG also had a supporting role in KIM's debut feature, The Quiet Family.
Korea's Cineclick Asia unveiled the project at the American Film Market (AFM), which kicked off November 1st. The project is being called KIM's most commercially accessible work to date.
A new film from Korea's notorious maverick, Kim Ki-duk, was also unveiled at AFM. The latest project "Breath", will be KIM's 14th feature, and will be a love story with minimal dialogue, about a prisoner on death row, and a married woman who befriends him, after catching her husband cheating. Their relationship deepens as she slowly decorates his prison cell.
KIM's latest muted romance is set to star Taiwan actor Chen Chang, who played opposite ZANG Zi-yi as her outlaw suitor in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, as well as starring in WONG Kar-wei and HOU Hsiou-hsien films. This will be the first time KIM has worked with a non-Korean Asian star, and it will be the first time Chang has worked with Korean director.
The move to work with Chang is not surprising for KIM, whose films are distributed more successfully in foreign markets than in his home country. His 2006 feature, "Time", screened at AFM, and at the concurrent Los Angeles International Film Festival.
English 
US$5 off (order min. US$5)
