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"The Good, the Bad, the Weird" Receives U.S. Release

Kim Jee-woon's "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" is to finally get its U.S release. Caught up in a lawsuit, reportedly with MGM over its name, the film is due to hit American audiences April 23. The genre bending film was so successful it spawned its own genre the 'Kimchi Western' and ranked number 2 at the Korean box office in 2008, pulling in 6,719,000 admissions. The movie's name is an homage to Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1996).

The genre director Kim Jee-woon has already become known as a leading film maker since the release of his first film "The Quiet Family" in 1998. Known for never staying in the safe confines of one genre, he has delved in such extremes as the revenge/gangster genre in A Bittersweet Life (2005), horror with "A Tale of Two Sisters" (2003) and comedy with "The Quiet Family". "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" stars Song Kang-ho, Korea's hardest working actor who recently starred in the spy thriller Secret Reunion, played in some of Korea's biggest movies such as BONG Joong-ho's "The Host" (2006) and also appeared in director KIM's "The Quiet Family". LEE Byeon-hyeon who appears in the film has also worked with KIM before playing the anti hero in "A Bittersweet Life". LEE is currently starring in "IRIS: The Movie" and is fast becoming popular overseas in Japan and the U.S. "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" also stars Jung Woo-sung who appeared in "A Moment to Remember" (2004), "Mutt Boy" (2003) and more recently in "Season of Good Rain" (2009).

The three each play the respective good, bad and weird roles as they are taken on an action packed journey across the Manchurian desert in search of treasure. Set during the 1930's, the three not only have to compete amongst themselves, they also have the Japanese army in hot pursuit.

David Oxenbridge KOFIC

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