“James Dean of Asia” in Korea?

26Nov08

Lee Byung-hun (Photo Courtesy)

This morning I came across an article by CNN.com calling Korea’s Lee Byung-hun the “James Dean of Asia”.  In this article here, you will find a report on Lee’s recent visit to London to promote his movie “The Good, the Bad, the Weird.”  Lee has been a star in Korea for sometime but not certainly someone I would have thought to have captured the “James Dean” title and quite frankly, this was the last movie that I thought would have catapulted him into international star status.  Speaking for a few friends, I think “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” easily wins my “2008 Worst Movie” award – certainly the strangest thing I’ve seen in awhile and the biggest waste of my time. I couldn’t make it to the end – I left nearly 2 hours into it. 

Nonetheless, Lee Byung-hun is not just filming here in Korea anymore.  He has recently finished “G.I. Joe” with stars like Siena Miller and Dennis Quaid in Hollywood. Next year he will co-star with Josh Hartnett in crime thriller “I Come with the Rain.”  If his popularity with women and Asian audiences so far is any indication, who knows, Lee might just be the next Asian face in Hollywood.  It seems that he is, somewhat surprisingly, off to a good start.

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Tags: "The Good, Dennis Quaid, G.I. Joe, Korean Actors, Korean Celebrities, Lee Byung-hun, Siena Miller, South Korea, the Bad, the Weird"