Kwak Jae-yong to shoot Yang Gui Fei in China

By KOFIC Staff

Korean directorkwak Jae-Yongwas present at the 16th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) todaywith Chinese starsFan Bingbing, Leehom WANG and Korean actorOn Joo-wanto announce his next film "Yang Gui Fei". The project is based on the life and love of the famous Tang Dynasty consort who was known as one of the Four Beauties of ancient China.

Kwak announced the film will be a Korea-China co-production. "It's on the scale of a US$15 million budget but preparing it in China, I've found that's not a lot of money. It costs a lot to shoot in China, and there are a lot of locations", he said.

kwak Jae-Yongis best known for his popular hit"My Sassy Girl", which launched Gianna JUN – then known asJeon Ji-hyeon– as a major star. His other films include"The Classic"and co-productions such as"Daisy"(as a writer), which also stars Jeon, and "Cyborg She".

A top actress and singer in China,Fan Bingbinghasfeatured in numerous films such as Buddha Mountain and Lost in Beijing. She recently wrapped production with Korean directorKang Je-gyuon the WWII epic"My Way".

"It's my first time in Busan but I've been to Korea because I shot"My Way"with directorKang Je-gyu. I discovered how much Koreans love films while I was working with him and the Korean crew. So I'm highly anticipating working with directorkwak Jae-Yong", said Fan. She remarked upon his quirky ideas for "Yang Gui Fei" and said, "I think he's going to give me a chance to act a different sort of "Yang Gui Fei" [from the one with which most people are familiar from history]".

On Joo-wanpreviously won the Best Actor award at the 2006 Durban International Film Festival for his starring role in directorJo Chang-ho's "The Peter Pan Formula", which also won the Best Feature Film award at the same festival.

Leehom Wang, a.k.a. Wang Lihong, is an American-born, Taiwan-based singer/songwriter, producer and actor whose films include Ang LEE's Lust, Caution and Jackie CHAN's Little Big Soldier.

The film will also feature CHOW Yun-fat.

"It's Chinese history, but at that time Tang was the entire world", explained Kwak about his choice to direct a film about Chinese history. "I don't think it's very different from an American director making a film on the Roman Empire".