Having won an Emmy for his work on “Squid Game,” Lee Jung-Jae now makes his directing debut with Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing’s release of the teaser for their next film, Hunt. This year’s Korean debut at Cannes was the Korean spy thriller “The Foreign Unit,” in which the star of “Squid Game” plays the chief of the KCIA’s Foreign Unit, who must find a spy hidden within the agency when a high-ranking North Korean official asks shelter. The trailer for The Hunt puts Lee’s character, Park Pyong-ho, against Domestic Unit commander Kim Jung-do (Jung Woo Sung, The Good, the Bad, and Asura), as they both work to reveal the spy, known only as Donglim.
They are put under investigation by each other after a leak of classified information threatens national security. The team’s tensions are rising as they understand that if they can’t identify the mole, they will be held responsible. As Pyong-ho and Jung-do dig more into the situation, they are faced with a conspiracy to kill the president of South Korea. Lee produced and directed the 1980s-set thriller written by Jo Seung-Hee. Heo Myeong-Haeng, who coordinated the stunts for The Train to Busan, went on to direct several of the action scenes.
The Hunt also stars Hye-Jin Jeon (The THrone), Heo Sung-tae (also from Squid Game), Go Yoon Jung (Sweet Home), Kim Jong-soo, and Man-Sik Jeong in addition to Lee and Jung (Beasts Clawing at Straws). The 131-minute feature-length first directing effort from the rising Korean actor will premiere in the United States on December 2. Although Lee was already a major star in Korea, his work on the hit survival series – created, written, and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk – catapulted Lee into international stardom, and this year he made history by becoming the first Asian actor to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Lee said in an interview from earlier this year how fate turned him become an actor, which in turn led to him creating screenplays and finally directing. The Hunt, which was in post-production at the time, was another project he briefly touched on, noting that “the screenplay took four years to create.”
Lee will also appear in the forthcoming Star Wars Disney+ series The Acolyte alongside Amandla Stenberg (Bodies, Bodies, Bodies), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place), and Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll). In the vast Star Wars history, the show occurs during the last days of the High Republic. As of Tuesday, December 2nd, Hunt will be for sale everywhere.