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Lee Jung-jae hits New York to promote Korean cinema

July 9, 2014

Lee Jung-jae attends a press conference at NYAFF. (Yonhap)

By Tae Hong

Lee Jung-jae, one of Korea’s biggest movie stars and the 2014 Korean Actor in Focus at the 13th New York Asian Film Festival, visited the Big Apple to promote Korean cinema.

“I think Korean films have the exciting material, solid scenarios and the filming technology and are more competitive than films made in any other country now,” he said Monday at a press conference inside Walter Reade Theatre at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

Nineteen Korean films were introduced to festival goers, among them Lee’s “The Face Reader,” “New World” and “Il Mare,” which was famously remade into “The Lake House” starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves.

The past few years have represented a career high for Lee, whose roles on the silver screen in three big box-office hits — “The Thieves,” “New World” and “Face Reader” — have catapulted him to awards-season successes and into favor with the mainstream audience.

“My seniors in the movie industry worked hard to receive awards at big festivals around the world and to break into the overseas market,” Lee said. “It’s up to our generation to continue with it now. It won’t happen with one try, but I believe that, with every introduction of Korean cinema in both small and big film festivals, we’ll see big results.”

Lee’s upcoming movie, “Big Match,” wrapped up filming in April. The actor is slated to begin shooting another project, “Assassination,” come August.

“There are some who think an actor’s life comes about due to good luck or as a result of natural talent, but I want to show everyone that an actor’s profession can be successful as a result of hard work,” he said.