JIN Goo, GIM Mu-yeol Board Naval Thriller
We’ll be seeing a few sea-bound blockbusters in the coming weeks with the impending releases of Roaring Currents and Haemoo but a new naval thriller is taking shape in the form of Battle of Yeonpyeong. Boarding the project are young stars LEE Hyun-woo, JIN Goo and GIM Mu-yeol. Returning to the director’s chair 12 years after Rewind (2002) is KIM Hak-soon, who also produced White Night (2009).
Based on real events that took place in 2002, just ahead of the Japan-South Korea World Cup, the film will chronicle the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, an incident in which a North Korean patrol boat entered enemy territory and conducted a surprise attack on a South Korean patrol vessel. Six lives were claimed during the attack.
Idol star LEE Hyun-woo featured in last year’s smash hit Secretly Greatly and will next be seen in The Technicians. JIN Goo is a veteran performer whose credits include YOO Ha’s A Dirty Carnival (2006) and Bong Joon Ho’s Mother (2009) while GIM Mu-yeol, who featured in Eungyo (2012), just completed his 21-month military service.
The film initially began shooting at the beginning of this year with a different cast, including JUNG Seok-won in the lead. Complications arose and that iteration of the project was scrapped. As the new cast was filled out, GIM Mu-yeol took on JUNG’s role.
Filming on the thriller is set to begin at the end of July with a release tentatively scheduled for the first half of 2015.