by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
Oldboy director Park Chan-wook has started principal photography on his Korean adaptation of Sarah Waters’ lesbian thriller novel, Fingersmith.
Set in Victorian-era London, Waters’ novel follows the complex romantic relationship between a pickpocket posing as a maid and a wealthy heiress. In Park’s reinterpretation, the scene relocates to Korea and Japan in the 1930s, during the Japanese occupation, according to Variety. Park has also localized the title of his adaptation to “Agasshi,” the Korean word for “lady.”
(Image via Soompi)
Leading ladies Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri will play the roles of “noble lady” and “young female pickpocket,” respectively. Meanwhile, Ha Jung-woo has been cast as the male lead.
Production for Agasshi began last week in Nagoya, Japan, according to . The film is Park’s first Korean-language venture since his Cannes-winning vampire flick Thirst in 2009. Stoker, a 2013 mystery thriller starring Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, marked Park’s English-language debut, but was received with mixed reviews.
Agasshi is co-produced by Park’s own studio Moho Film and producer Lim Seung-yong’s Dragon Films. The two filmmakers have enjoyed a lasting partnership since they first worked on Oldboy together in 2003.
Other longtime collaborators of Park include screenwriter Jeong Seo-kyung (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), cinematographer Chung Chung-hun (Oldboy, Thirst) and production designer Ryu Seong-hee (Oldboy, Thirst).
Agasshi is slated for a 2016 release.
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