[Korean Film News] Kim Hae-gon's Destiny (숙명) Pre-Sold to Japan

You can't keep a bad man down. Scathing reviews couldn't prevent Shim Hyung-rae's CG dragon film D-War (디 워) from becoming the biggest hit of the year (7 million tickets and counting...) by a Korean director. And a directorial debut as distasteful as Between Love and Hate (연애, 그 참을 수 없는 가벼움, 2006), which attracted a mere 531,681 viewers, couldn't stop actor/writer turned filmmaker Kim Hae-gon (김해곤) from jumping headlong into his next project. Starring Kwon Sang-woo (Once Upon a Time in High School) and Song Seung-heon, Destiny (숙명) is described as an action noir "depicting four friends dealing with friendship, righteousness and betrayal". Kwon plays "a man whose boundless desires seem to lead towards a catastrophe". Evidently, Kwon, one of Korea's bankable hallyu stars, still wants to be taken seriously as an actor. Some may recall the heartthrob's over-the-top performance in Running Wild (야수, 2005), in which Kwon played a violent detective with bad hair and Tourette's syndrome. The Japanese rights to Destiny have been pre-sold to Formula Entertainment for US $2 million, the largest figure paid this year, presumably on the strength of Kwon's idol status in Japan. We reported a while back that Failan (파이란, 2001), whose screenplay was written by Kim, is to be remade by director Vadim Perelman. Shooting of Destiny began last May and a release is tentatively scheduled by year's end.

[Source: KOFIC]

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