It was today confirmed that South Korean superstars Song Kang-ho, Bae Doona and Kang Dong-won have been cast in leading roles in Japanese master Hirokazu Koreeda's new film titled “Broker”. The story is said to revolve around baby boxes, which are set up for people who are no longer able to provide for their babies to anonymously give them up.
Director Koreeda Hirokazu himself explained how the film came to light, and his statement reads as follows:
“Plans for “Broker” began about five years ago.
As always, it all began with the actors. I first met Song Kang-ho at the Busan International Film Festival and Kang Dong-won when he was in Tokyo for work. I have continued to stay in contact with the two actors in Tokyo, Seoul, Busan, and Cannes. At first, we simply exchanged greetings but as we continued to share conversations, it naturally led to us talking about working on a film together.
I worked with Bae Doona in 2009, and I thought to myself, ‘I hope we work together again, next time as a human character,' and that dream has finally come true over 10 years later. And now I will be working on a film with crew members and Korean actors I greatly respect.
“Broker” is a story about baby boxes. Right now, working on the script that will move these three great actors, I am so excited. In order to share this excitement with you all, I hope to create a thrilling, heartwarming, and emotional film.
This film, like my latest film, will be one where I am apart from my home country and native language. What will I be able to express and share as we overcome barriers of language and culture? What does it mean to be a director? I hope to explore those questions through this project.”
Song Kang-ho is currently on-set for his aviation disaster film “Emergency Declaration”, while he is also confirmed to star in indie director Shin Yeon-shick's next project “Cobweb”. Kang Dong-won is currently fighting the zombie apocalypse in cinemas with “Train to Busan” sequel “Peninsula”, which has unsurprisingly become the highest-grossing Korean film this year. Bae Doona has previously worked with director Koreeda in his film “Air Doll”. She was last seen on the big screen alongside Song Kang-ho in “The Drug King”.
