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Park Chan-wook’s Next Film Confirmed to be a Melodrama Starring Park Hae-il and Tang Wei

Putting end to months of rumours and speculations, it has been confirmed that Korean auteur 's next project will be a melodrama starring and Chinese actress (“Lust/Caution”).

Park was earlier rumoured to have been developing a “The Brigands of Battlecreek” for Amazon Studios off a S. Craig Zahler script as well as a remake of the Costa-Gavras film “Ax”, it will be this venture into the unchartered territories of the melodrama genre that will end up being his first film since he critically and commercially lauded “The Handmaiden” back in 2016.

The Korean title for the film translates as “”. Of course, with Park being at the helm, one can expect the film to be rather dark and different to the usual Korean melodramas we know and love.

Interestingly, Lee Byung-hun was earlier rumoured to be considering a role in a Park Chan-Work film along with Tang Wei, but it looks like Park Hae-il eventually won out. Whether this was due to scheduling conflicts, Lee Byung-hun refusing or Park deciding to go a different route remains a mystery.

Park Hae-il is currently finishing work on the historical “Hansan”, in which he will be seen playing the legendary admiral Yi Sun-sin. His last film was “The King's Letter”, opposite Song Kang-ho, while his completed film “To The Land of Happiness” with Choi Min-sik awaits release. Tang Wei, meanwhile, is shooting for her husband Kim Tae-yong's all-star “Wonderland” alongside Park Bo-gum, Jung Yu-mi, Suzy and Choi Woo-shik. She was last seen in the Chinese film “The Whistleblower” and earned critical acclaim for her work in Bi Gan's hypnotic “A Long Day's Journey into Night“.

Production on “The Decision to Break Up” is expected to start later this fall.

About the author

Rhythm Zaveri

Hello, my name is Rhythm Zaveri. For as long as I can remember, I've been watching movies, but my introduction to Asian cinema was old rental VHS copies of Bruce Lee films and some Shaw Bros. martial arts extravaganzas. But my interest in the cinema of the region really deepened when I was at university and got access to a massive range of VHS and DVDs of classic Japanese and Chinese titles in the library, and there has been no turning back since.

An avid collector of physical media, I would say Korean cinema really is my first choice, but I'll watch anything that is south-east Asian. I started contributing to Asian Movie Pulse in 2018 to share my love for Asian cinema in the form of my writings.

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