Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Kim Ji-Woon's US Debut!

firstshowing.net says: Even though we already thought South Korean filmmaker Kim Ji-Woon was planning his first US-set film with high profiles actors like Clive Owen and Sienna Miller (reported last year), apparently that won't be his first US feature after all. Latino Review is reporting that Lionsgate has hired Ji-Woon (of A Bittersweet Life, The Good, The Bad, The Weird and I Saw the Devil) to direct a project called The Last Stand. The script was featured on last year's screenplay Blacklist and is apparently an action thriller about a drug cartel with shades of Gone in 60 Seconds and High Noon. This could be a fairly awesome Hollywood debut for Ji-Woon.

if you didnt know already how obsessed i am about asian things in general, now you will know! to me, kim ji-woon is quickly becoming one of the most talented directors from korea right under park chan-wook and bong joon-ho. i saw 'i saw the devil' and let me tell you, its not for the weak! its intense, thrilling, and down-right unrestricted. it was the first korean film to have the restrictive rating 19+. after reediting it three more times, the korea media rating board finally gave it a 18+. then the production companies edited 7 more scenes in fear of inspiring crimes including kidnapping, murders, and possibly even cannabalism (as hinted in the film!) and even then, it was banned from some theaters. im so glad that this was the first kim ji-woon film ive seen and that i actually even got to see it! so, hopefully it comes to the states because even though it got the most restricted rating in korea, to americans, i think itll be ok. completely enthralled!