Song Kang-ho, star of the Oscar-winning film ‘Parasite’, will star in a series adaptation of the hit film ‘Inside Men’.
The project was unveiled Thursday by producer Hive Media Corp., who said the show is in the early stages of pre-production. Cameras are expected to be rolled out in 2025.
No broadcaster or streamer has been connected yet.
The 2015 film was a political thriller adapted from an incomplete webtoon written by Yoon Tae-ho called “The Insiders” and published in Hankyoreh newspaper in 2010-2012.
The webtoon featured a political powerhouse, played by Lee Byung-hun in the film, who seeks revenge after being ruined by politicians and the media. Directed and written by Woo Min-ho, the film added other elements including a prosecutor (played by Cho Sueng-woo), a presidential candidate played by Lee Gyeong-young) and a newspaper editor (played by Baek Yoon-sik).
The series, which will be directed by Mo Wan-il (“The World of the Married” and the recent Netflix film “The Frog”), will further extrapolate and expand on other elements of the film. Song is expected to play the newspaper editor. No other cast has been announced.
Hive Media Corp has been described by the Korean Film Council as “Korea’s Best Production Company.” Last year it produced “12.12: The Day,” a fictionalized portrayal of the 1979 military coup, which became the highest-grossing film of the year in Korea. An earlier version of a closely related political drama theme was “The Man Standing Next,” which explored the events leading up to the assassination of President Park Chung-hee earlier in 1979.
“Inside Men” was produced by Kim Won-kuk, who was an investor in Woo’s previous film “Man of Vendetta.” Its surprising hit status – 7 million admissions for the original version and another 2 million for a director’s cut – allowed Kim and partners to found Hive Media Corp in 2016.
The company released the low-budget hit “Handsome Guys” this year and is soon to release Hur Jin-ho’s “A Normal Family,” a critically acclaimed pressure-cooker drama that is a remake of Herman Koch’s “The Dinner” and was released in Toronto last year premiered. . This week saw the premiere in Toronto of the big-budget action thriller “Harbin,” which will be released commercially in Korea shortly before Christmas. It is also directed by Woo.
Song has been a major star since his early career roles in “Joint Security Area” and “Memories of Murder.” Other credits include ‘Sympathy for Mr Vengeance’, ‘The Host’, ‘Snowpiercer’, ‘A Taxi Driver’ and ‘Broker’, for which he won Best Actor at Cannes in 2022. He has done relatively little television, but recently won the best actor award at the Seoul Drama Awards for his role in the Disney+ series “Uncle Samsik.” Last December, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences held a retrospective in his honor.