Actor Lee Byung-hun to Make Global Debut
Monday, May 21, 2007

Actor and heartthrob Lee Byung-hun will make his global debut with a starring role in Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung’s film “I Come with the Rain.” In the movie, the Korean star will play the role of a Hong Kong gang leader.

Tran achieved international recognition in the mid-90s for the feature films “Cyclo” and “Scent of the Green Papaya.”

The new movie, which is slated for a 2008 release, is a thriller about a former L.A. cop who is traumatized after he takes the life of a serial killer and is hired to find a Chinese billionaire's missing son.

Reported by KBS WORLD Radio, image from empas.com

http://english.kbs.co.kr/news/newsview_sub.php?menu=5&key=2007052116

Actor Lee Byung-hun May Go to Hollywood

By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter



Actor Lee Byung-hun will likely play a Hong Kong gang leader involved in crime and drug businesses in an upcoming film by a renowned Vietnamese-French director.

Yonhap News Agency reported from Cannes, France that the 37-year-old actor will star in "I Come With the Rain," a film scheduled for 2008 by director Tran Anh Hung.

Tran's previous works include "The Scent of Green Papaya" and "Cyclo" among others. The upcoming $18 million-budget movie will become the first English-language film by the director.

The film stars Josh Harnett, of "Black Hawk Down" and "Pearl Harbor" fame. The American actor will play the lead role of a former Los Angeles cop who comes to Hong Kong on a mission to find a missing son of a high-ranking Chinese businessman.

Lee's role, a gang leader called Su Dongpo, will support the plot along with the role of Meng Zi, a Hong Kong cop and a long-time friend of the American.

The film is expected to be Lee's debut on the world stage. Lee is currently filming "The Good, the Bad and the Weird" by director Kim Ji-woon, and is reviewing the proposal for the role in Tran's film, sources close to him were quoted as saying by the local media.

Variety.com reported that the film will feature music from Gustavo Santaolalla, who composed the music for "Brokeback Mountain." The film shoot will last 10 weeks in Los Angeles, the Philippines and Hong Kong from July 9, and will premiere in the United States, Canada and France, according to the report.

saltwall@koreatimes.co.kr

Source: The Korea Times

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/speci...5/178_3287.html