'Men in Cannes' Song Kang-ho·Park Chan-wook's next moves

▲ This photo, shows actor Song Kang-ho (left), who won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and director Park Chan-wook (right), who won the Best Director Award, at the Incheon International Airport on the afternoon of the 30th posing for a trophy as they return home. (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, provided by Showbox, shows Song Kang-ho from "Emergency Declaration." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, shows Song Kang-ho (left), who received the Best Actor Award for his role in the movie "Broker" at the 75th Cannes Film Festival held at the Lumière Grand Theater in Cannes, France on the 28th (local time).Song Kang-ho became the first Korean actor to win Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival this day. (Yonhap)

▲This photo, shows director Park Chan-wook, who received the Best Director award at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, wearing earphones prior to the press conference of the movie 'Decision to leave' held at JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 2nd. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, June 5 (Yonhap) -- The film “Broker” and “Decision to Leave,” which won trophies along with actor Song Kang-ho and director Park Chan-wook at the Cannes Film Festival, are preparing to be released in Korea this month. As much as the two movies are directed by the representative actors and directors of Korea, more interest has been leaned on to their next moves.

Following “Broker,” Song Kang-ho is meeting the audience with works that he has completed during COVID-19 while director Park chose an American drama for his next film.

Song Kang-ho’s next project is expected to be a disaster film “Emergency Declaration.” This story revolves around a plane that has declared an unconditional landing due to an unprecedented disaster.

This movie boasts a strong cast including Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, Jeon Do-yeon, Kim Nam-gil, and Im Si-wan. Director Han Jae-rim of “The King” caught the megaphone for this movie. Song Kang-ho will be taking on the role of a veteran detective, In-ho.

“Emergency Declaration” was invited to the non-competitive section of the Cannes Film Festival last year after it completed its filming in 2020. However, the release was delayed in Korea due to the pandemic and now, its distributor, Showbox is planning to release the film in August.

Song Kang-ho is then expected to transform into a coach of a women’s volleyball team. “One Win” depicts the story of a volleyball coach who has never been successful in his life. However, he takes on the challenge of becoming the coach of a women’s volley ball team that only needs one win. In this movie, Song Kang-ho plays the volleyball coach Kim Woo-jin.

Director Shin Yeon-sik’s “One Win” has also finished its production, but the release has been delayed. The distributor, Contents Nandakinda, stated that the release date was still “undecided.”

While the release of “One Win” is delayed, Song Kang-ho is filming “Spider’s House,” where he acts as a film director. This movie shows the story of a director who is obsessed with the idea that the ending of the 1970s movie “Spider’s House” will be better if re-filmed and forces himself to film even in the worst conditions. After “The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008),” and “The Age of Shadows(2016),” Song Kang-ho is working again with director Kim Jee-woon.

On the other hand, director Park Chan-wook is returning back with a drama in four years after the BBC drama “The Little Drummer Girl (2018).” “The Sympathizer” is a 7-episode drama based on the novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen. It depics the story of a man who lives as a double agent in the United States after the Vietnam War. Robert Downey Jr. from “Iron Man” will also be appearing in the movie.

As a showrunner in charge of the drama, Director Park is in charge of the screenplay and the directing of some episodes. "My dream is to take turns with English works and Korean works," he said at the recent “Decision to Leave” press conference.

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