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January 2024, Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon Ho ascended a stage in Seoul flanked by 15 friends and colleagues from across the South Korean film industry. Collectively, the assembled directors, actors and producers, all dressed head to toe in black, had won more than two dozen Grand Bell Awards, South Korea’s equivalent to the Oscars. They were there, in force, to condemn their country’s police and media for the tragic fate of a friend and collaborator, actor Lee Sun-kyun. Two months earlier, Lee — one of the unforgettable leads of Bong’s multi-Oscar-winning drama Parasite — had been one of Korea’s biggest and most beloved movie stars. In the ensuing weeks, he had become a figure of scandal, ridicule and disgrace. On Dec. 27, 2023, he was discovered dead by suicide inside his car in a public parking lot near the center of Seoul. He was 48.

Lee’s downfall initially bewildered those who knew and cared about him.

Exclusive: Korean multi-hyphenate powerhouse Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok) is set to star in and produce an English-language feature adaptation of New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s dystopian sci-fi novel series Hell Divers. The film will draw from the first three books in the series whose first installment was published by Blackstone in 2016; there are 10 books in total.

Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Emmy Yu of Arad Productions are producing alongside Oscar nominated VFX supervisor and animation director Jerome Chen. Lee and Chris S Lee of B&c Content are producing under their U.S. banner, Gorilla 8 Productions. The adaptation will be penned by J.P. Davis. There is currently no director attached.

Lee, who is known for his performances in such Korean hits as Train to Busan; The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil; and The Roundup movies, including recent smash The Roundup: No Way Out,...

Competition titles include Cannes Critics’ Week winner ‘Tiger Stripes’.

South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Bifan) is set to open its 27th edition with Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid, starring Joaquin Phoenix, and close with the world premiere of Takashi Shimizu’s Sana.

The festival will run June 29 - July 9 with its award ceremony on July 7, followed by the screening of Sana.

Best known for The Grudge, J-horror master Shimizu’s latest film follows the disappearance of an idol group’s members and an eccentric private detective’s investigation into the matter. Shimizu received the Screen International...

Paramount has landed the rights to remake the Korean action and crime film “The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” that Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions is producing as an English-language version.

Don Lee, a.k.a. Ma Dong-seok, who starred in the original 2019 film, will reprise his role in the English-language remake as a mob boss who teams up with a cop in order to track a serial killer.

Lee is also producing the remake alongside Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions, Billy Acumen of B.A. Entertainment, and Chris Lee. The film is in the early stages of development.

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The remake of “The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” was first unveiled with Stallone producing way back in 2019, shortly after the film made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival out of competition. Won-Tae Lee directed and wrote the original film.

Exclusive: Paramount Pictures is set to remake acclaimed South Korean crime thriller The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil with original star Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok) reprising his lead role as a gang boss looking for redemption in the studio’s U.S. version.

Lee, whose acting credits also include Disney/Marvel’s Eternals and Korean blockbusters Train to Busan and The Roundup, is also producing under his U.S banner Gorilla 8 Productions; and alongside Chris S. Lee, CEO of B&c Content; Billy Acumen, CEO of BA Entertainment; and Sylvester Stallone and Braden Aftergood under their production banner, Balboa Productions. The U.S. remake is in the early stages of development.

The original film centered on fierce and feared gang boss Jang Dong-su (Lee), who barely survives a violent attack by an elusive serial killer. With his reputation damaged, the only way for Jang to restore his image is...