Ha Jung-woo and Lee Byung-hun must prevent a volcano from erupting in 'Mt. Baekdu.'
Lee Byung-hun’s fans will have several chances to see him onscreen in the coming year, as he stars in three films, each of which features a storyline sure to get the adrenaline pumping. He appears in the disaster film Mt. Baekdu, which aims for a late 2019 or early 2020 release, as well as the political thriller, Chiefs of Namsan, aka The Man Standing Next, which aims for a release on Dec. 31. His next film, Emergency Declaration, another disaster film, plans to start production in early 2020.
Chiefs of Namsan is set in Korea in the 1970s. Lee plays a former Korean Central Intelligence Agency chief who becomes involved in assassinating the president. Actor Lee Sung-min plays President Park and Kwak Do-won plays another ex-KCIA officer. Woo Min-ho, who directed Lee in the film Inside Men, also directs Chiefs of Namsan, making this Lee’s most anticipated role of the year. Under Woo’s direction Lee’s role in Inside Men won him the Best Actor prize at the 52nd Baeksang Art Awards, 37th Blue Dragon Awards and 53rd Grand Bell Awards.
Lee also plays an intelligence officer in the disaster film Mt. Baekdu, only in that film he’s a North Korean agent. The film imagines a fictional eruption of Mt. Baekdu, an active volcano on the Chinese - North Korean border. Mt. Baekdu last erupted in 1903 and since it emits lava about every 100 years, its expected to flare up again soon. Although recent real-life eruptions have been minor, the fictional eruption is set to happen on a cataclysmic scale. The characters played by Lee and his co-stars—Ha Jung-woo, Jeon Hye-jin, Ma Dong-seok and Bae Suzy—must do what they can to prevent disaster.
Lee Byung-hun appeared in the award-winning film 'Inside Men' and filmed 'Chiefs of Namsan' with the ... [+]
Ha plays a member of a South Korean explosive detonation team, while Ma plays a geology professor who predicts the eruption. Despite their different approaches and political affiliations, the characters work together to forestall catastrophe. Mt. Baekdu is directed by Lee Hae-joon, who also directed Castaway on the Moon.
Lee is already preparing for his next disaster film, Emergency Declaration. His co-star in that film is actor Song Kang Ho, who stars in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. Song and Lee worked together on three previous films, Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area and in two of Kim Jee-woon’s films: The Good, the Bad, the Weird and The Age of Shadows.
Emergency Declaration will give Lee a chance to cope with catastrophe in a new environment, since the action in the C-Jes film takes place on a plane. An unforeseen event forces the pilots to make an emergency declaration and be forced to land their plane. Emergency Declaration is directed by Han Jae-rim, who directed The Face Reader and The King.
Lee has dozens of Korean films and dramas to his credit and he’s appeared in a few Hollywood productions. His film work also includes A Bittersweet Life; and Masquerade; plus both the film and TV drama versions of the spy story Iris. His TV work also includes the drama All In and most recently Mr. Sunshine. Lee’s recent Hollywood roles include Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and its sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation, as well as roles in Red 2, Terminator Genisys, and The Magnificent Seven
