Song Joong Ki in Talks for New Bong Joon Ho Movie Sea Fog

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• Good news. Looking forward to Song Joong Ki's next project.

• I know this post is about SJK, but LOOK! It's my really favorite actor, Song Kang-ho!! I love love him and managed to track down and watch almost all of his films, many times.

  SJK is incredibly fortunate to work with BJH, and vers vica, I guess.

  The Host was BIG and LOUD and TOUGH, but still had its wonderful tender moments with SKH and his daughter. I can't wait to watch Snowpiercer, too.

• Oooooooopppaaaaaaaaaaaa!

  Okay, this would be amazing and my ILU would rock it...but I'm sad he won't be doing another drama before he goes to the army. ~falls to floor overcome by grief~

  • As a fan, I'm happy that he's finally moved to the big leagues because dramas, to be painfully honest, are a dead end.

• Face of a baby angel...but manly manly hands....

• off topic,,, the picture of Song Joong Ki used is my cellphone wallpaper!!! I spazzed about it for a good 2 minutes ^_^

• Snowpiercer calls to mind Matrix a bit. I'm quite impressed with the cast gathered. I hope the project is a success. It'll mean a lot for Korean cinema.

• Sea Fog is indeed Bong's next project but it's going to be his first project as a producer, not director. His protege who worked with him on the adapted screenplay for Memories of Murder will be directing the film. So whether Sea Fog will have all the hallmarks of a Bong Joon-Ho will depend on how he views and handles his role as the producer and whether director Shim Sung-Bo is cut from the same cloth as his mentor.

  And while it does sound like Song Joong-Ki is actively interested in in this film (unlike Tazza 2, which his management finally confirmed they turned down), if pre-production takes far too long (i.e., too long for SJK; for the obsessively meticulous Bong, a year worth of pre-production is nothing), military service may make it impossible for SJK to do the film by the time they're ready to start shooting. Hardly the only project where that has been the big hurdle--everything I've heard through the grapevines has been a variation of "powers that be are interested in SJK for project X but he may not be able to commit if schedule overlaps with his enlistment"--but in any case, far from a done deal.

• @Kristi I was just about to clarify the mis-information for everyone here but you have said everything I want to say. Thank you!

  No. This is NOT directed by Bong Joon-ho, but by the writer, Shim Sung bo, who co-wrote Memories of Murder together with director Bong. While I am uber-excited about this project since Memories of Murder is the best Korean film ever made, I still have my worries given that this will be Shim's debut as a director. For instance, Gong Hyo Jin's Crush and Blush is produced by Park Chan-wook and directed by his protege, Lee Kyoung-mi. While Gong's performance won her multiple best actress awards, Crush and Blush is a shaky and uneven film that is difficult to watch. Not to mention that it fails to match up the standard as we see in Park's films.

  I am hoping all the best for Song Joong-ki. He is, without question, one of the most promising actors in his generation. While his acting in Werewolf Boy is superb, it is only a commercial film that rides on SJK's popularity. His talents deserve something better.

  • I'd heard about Bong's interest in Sea Fog a couple of weeks ago, long before I had any idea SJK was in the running for the lead role (learned like everyone else only yesterday), and I remember thinking a) this was the type of film he'd want to direct himself were it not for Snowpiercer (he went to see the play twice back in 2007 and cast the lead actor, Song Sae-Byeok, for a supporting role in Mother), and b) the type of experimental or edgier works I hope SJK pursues in Chungmuro. Never thought I'd get to talk about Bong Joon-Ho and Song Joong-Ki in the same sentence so soon. :) If it does go forward, the stakes would be quite high for everyone involved (eg. N.E.W. is the only major distributor in the Korean market w/o any multiplex chain like CJ, Showbox or Lotte, so they need films that enjoy strong word-of-mouth like Cell #7 or New World), but... while I have no idea what else SJK is looking at (some idea but nothing specific), I think it's a risk worth taking if it's something he (and everyone else) believe(s) in.

  • Situation is a bit different. Lee Gyeong-Mi grew under Park's wings but in a "creatively tangential" way (she was scripter for Sympathy for Lady Vengeance), for lack of a better term. Shim was actively involved in the creative process of Memories of Murder, and we're once again dealing with a theater-to-big screen port, so he's very likely to be fit for the job -- given that MoM was arguably the best theater-to-screen adaptation in modern Korean cinema. Plus, today's Chungmuro is different than 2003's Chungmuro. It's no longer a director's field, but something dominated by producers. If Bong is the producer, you can pretty much see this as him directing the traffic and Shim playing the field officer, even if he gets directing duties in the credits.

    So to make a long story short... I'd be mildly optimistic if I were you. Expect the usual Bong regulars to show up as fellow boatmen (lots of theater-trained faces, I suppose), and if Song gets on board, this might be the proverbial spark that ignites an even more mature stage of his career. If he finds some stability as headliner of meaty Chungmuro fare, his choice of projects can only improve (from the brilliantly pragmatic to Ha Jung-Woo levels).

• omg! i can't imagine this flower boy in the military! so sad! but when he come back there should me more muscles and and army abs??!!

• Is there a connection? Coincidence?
  Sea Dog, SJK, Recent Picture with PSH doing water sport activity together shooting together?, distributor of this MV same as Miracle of cell no 7.