International Disruptors: Saram Entertainment’s South Korean Super-Agent Soyoung Lee, Who Represents Stars From ‘Squid Game’, ‘Pachinko’ & ‘Minari’, Talks Korean Content Explosion, Working With The U.S. & Artists International JV

Korean actor Song Kang-ho, who starred in Parasite and won best actor at this year’s Cannes film festival for his role in Broker, is set to make his debut in a Korean series with Uncle Sam Shik for Seoul-based production company Slingshot Studio.

Parasite star and this year’s Cannes Best Actor winner Song Kang-ho has been confirmed for his first-ever Korean drama role of his 32-year career.On August 30, production company Slingshot Studio announced that Song has accepted a role in its upcoming K-drama series titled Uncle Sam Shik.The upcoming role will mark the critically acclaimed actor’s first-ever K-drama role of his acting career, which first began in 1990. Song spent the first six years of his career starring in theatre productions before making his film debut in 1996 with The Day a Pig Fell into the Well.According to Asia Gyeongje, the upcoming 10-episode series will follow the “bromance” between a pair of longtime friends, Sam Shik and Kim San, who survived South Korea’s turbulent 1960s period together.Uncle Sam Shik will be directed by Shin Yeon-shik, whom Song recently worked with on upcoming films One Win and Cobweb, which are currently in post-production.Best known for his roles in the films Thirst, Memories of Murder, Snowpiercer and Parasite, the 55-year-old became the first South Korean male actor to win the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his recent drama film, Broker.The film, directed by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda and also starring K-pop idol IU, received a 12-minute standing ovation after its premiere screening at the festival earlier this year.“Winning an award from such a prestigious festival as Cannes is a great and happy moment, an unforgettable turning point of my life,” said Song during a recent interview.However, the actor added: “I have won the award, but that itself cannot become the purpose.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lee Jung-jae, the star of hit Netflix series “Squid Game,” is to reprise his role as a manic killer in “Ray,” a TV series spun off from 2020 Korean action-horror film “Deliver Us From Evil.” Korean media sources report that Lee will star in and co-produce the series through his own Artist Studio company and Hive Media, producer of “Deliver Us From Evil.” Variety has reached out for further details. In the original movie, Hwang Jung-min played In-Nam, a former black ops agent who travels to Thailand to investigate an abduction. There he is pursued by Lee’s character Ray, a Korean-Japanese ruffian whose brother had been killed by In-Nam. Both heavily tattooed and charming, Ray embarks on a bloody rampage of revenge.

After a hiatus, we’re back with a new episode of Deadline Hallyuwood. Joining us is actor Jang Hyuk, star of the movie The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die. 

Narco-Saints. Created by The Spy Gone North filmmaker Yoon Jong-bin, Narco-Saints stars Ha Jung-woo (Ashfall, Entourage) as protagonist Kang In-su, an modest entrepreneur who lands in Suriname for business and ends up getting framed by a Korean drug lord operating in the country and sent to prison.As he’s beginning to serve his sentence, In-su is roped into a secret mission by Choi Chang-ho (Squid Game’s Park Hae-soo), an agent of the Korean National Intelligence Service. Their goal is to eventually snare Jeon Yo-han (Hush’s Hwang Jung-min), the head of a notorious drug cartel and the one responsible for In-su’s imprisonment who is moonlighting as a pastor as a cover for his operations.The trailer begins with the conversation between Chang-ho and In-su as they discuss the details of the secret mission and what the latter needs to do for the NIS.

The Company You Keep, starring Milo Ventimiglia, based on the 2019 Korean drama My Fellow Citizens!.On August 22, Variety reported that ABC has picked up the series for a full season, which is now set for a 2023 premiere, after it was originally ordered to pilot this year. The Company You Keep is set to star This Is Us actor Milo Ventimiglia, alongside Catherine Haena Kim.It is an adaptation of the 2019 South Korean drama My Fellow Citizens!, which starred Super Junior member Choi Si-won, Dr.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe third decade of the millennium looks quite different for the Korean entertainment scene compared with just a few years earlier.In March 2020, “Parasite,” a Korean-made film noir made history by winning three Oscars, including best picture. The following year, Korean veteran Youn Yuh-jung took the Oscar for best supporting actress in “Minari,” while in 2022 “Squid Game” leading man Lee Jung-jae looks poised for Emmy accolades.K-pop has broken out to become a phenomenon that tops charts, fills global stadiums and airwaves, and the social media warriors of group BTS, who call themselves “ARMY” would even claim to have had a small influence at the last U.S.

Hunt will get a US theatrical release in December.On August 15, Deadline reported that film distributor Magnolia Pictures has acquired US rights to the South Korean film Hunt and is currently planning a December theatrical release.The spy-action film notably marks the directorial debut of veteran actor Lee Jung-jae, who gained significant international recognition for his role in Netflix’s 2021 hit series Squid Game. He also wrote the screenplay for Hunt, which is set in the ’80s at the height of South Korea’s military dictatorship.Lee also stars in the film alongside with Jung Woo-sung as intelligence agents tasked with hunting down a North Korean spy embedded in their agency.

Squid Game and its lead actor Lee Jung-jae have each bagged an award at this year’s Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) TV Awards.On August 13, the HCA TV Awards broadcasted its 2022 ceremony, where Squid Game won in two of seven categories it was nominated for. The South Korean hit was awarded Best International Series, beating out shows like Apple TV+’s Pachinko, Acapulco, as well as Netflix’s own Lupin, Money Heist and Narcos: Mexico.Its lead actor, Lee Jung-jae, who had starred as Squid Game’s main character, Seong Gi-hun, also took home the award for Best Actor in a Streaming Series.

Psy concert left the venue “severely damaged”.On August 15, KBS News reported that the floor of Jinnam Stadium in Yeosu City, Jeollanam-do had been left “severely damaged” after Psy’s August 6 show at the venue, which drew 28,000 concertgoers.According to the report, half of the stadium’s 600 square metres of elastic flooring had been “badly dented and torn off” following the concert. Jinnam Stadium is part of Yeosu City’s multi-purpose sports complex, which serves the city’s population and its visitors.Yeosu City has since demanded Psy’s concert organisers assist in restoring the venue, after its investigators determined the damage was caused by the use of a forklift to transport stage equipment.“In the event of damage to the facility, it is supposed to be restored to its original stage as a condition of [granting] the permit,” said Ahn Bo-hyeon, the city’s deputy director of its sports support division, told KBS News.

“Hunt” premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight section and follows two Korean Central Intelligence agents tasked with finding a mole within the agency and who uncover a plot to assassinate the country’s president. Jung-jae directed, wrote and produced the movie and stars alongside “Squid Game” co-star Heo Sung-tae.

EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures has snapped up domestic rights to Hunt, the feature directorial from Squid Game Emmy nominated star Lee Jung-jae, which made its world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight section.

Carson Burton Bill Robinson, a veteran talent agent who represented the likes of Robert Duvall, Alan Arkin and Carol Burnett, died on Aug. 6 in Malibu after a long illness, his family announced. He was 93 years old.“I knew Bill for many, many years…since 1959,” Burnett said.

Squid Game could expand to other countries, in line with his original intentions for the story.The record-breaking Netflix show revolves around a survival game called the ‘Squid Game’, in which participants take on a series life-or-death challenges based on children’s playground games for prize money. It is later revealed in the series that the games are held yearly for the entertainment of wealthy VIPs, and it is implied that other editions of the games exist.In a recent interview with Deadline, its creator Hwang Dong-hyuk shared that he had written the series, which is set in Korea, keeping possible international editions of the titular ‘Squid Game’ in mind.

With a premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, an epic 140-minute runtime, and a starry South Korean cast that includes Kim Nam-gil (“Memoir of a Murderer”), Lee Byung-hun (“I Saw the Devil”), and Song Kang-ho (“Parasite”), Han Jae-rim’s feature “Emergency Declaration” would appear, on the surface, as a prestige-play.  Continue reading ‘Emergency Declaration’ Review: Song Kang-ho Stars In An Entertainingly Ridiculous Airplane Disaster Thriller at The Playlist.

star Song Kang-ho leads the cast of the South Korean thriller, which hits U.S. theaters this Friday, and only ET exclusively premieres an intense first look from the pandemic drama.The film, which made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year, kicks off when a terroristic threat that goes viral online and Korean authorities discover that a suspect has recently boarded an international flight bound for the United States.

Squid Game may be the most watched Netflix original series ever, but for the Emmy-nominated stars of the Korean horror thriller, it’s all very personal.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefLee Jung-jae, the Korean actor who has received an Emmy nomination for his role in Netflix hit series “Squid Game,” has re-edited “Hunt,” the film that marked his feature directorial debut. The new version will play at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.“Hunt,” a 1980s-set espionage thriller about rival agents from North and South Korea, had its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Little Women, which will also come to Netflix.The new visual shows sisters In-ju (Yumi’s Cells Kim Go-eun), In-kyeong (100 Days My Prince’s Nam Ji-hyun) and In-hye (All Of Us Are Dead’s Park Ji-hu) acquiring a backpack filled with ₩70 billion. It’s heavily implied that the bag is full of stolen money, with scenes with In-ju rappelling down the side of a building with the backpack and In-hye nervously walking away from a group of policemen.