Song Kang-ho, star of Oscar-winner “Parasite,” will head the cast of “Baby, Box, Broker,” the Korean-language debut of “Shoplifters” director Hirokazu Kore-eda. Rounding out a stellar acting lineup are Bae Doona (“Cloud Atlas,” “The Host”) and Gang Dong-won (“Peninsula,” “The Priests”).
The film takes as its starting point boxes that are left out for people to anonymously drop off their unwanted babies. That makes “Broker” thematically linked to Kore-eda’s previous films, including Cannes competition title “Nobody Knows” and Cannes jury prize-winner “Like Father, Like Son.”
Production is through Zip Cinema, with CJ Entertainment investing, handling local distribution and international sales. Kore-eda is currently completing the screenplay and is heading for a 2021 production start.
“It’s Korean movie with Korean actors, Korean staff, being shot in the Korean language,” producer Eugene Lee told Variety. “It will shoot in Korea also.”
“ ‘Broker’ is a story about baby boxes. Right now, working on the script that will move these three great actors, I am so excited. In order to share this excitement with you all, I hope to create a thrilling, heartwarming, and emotional film. This film, like my latest film (French-language ‘The Truth’), will be one where I am apart from my home country and native language. What will I be able to express and share as we overcome barriers of language and culture? What does it mean to be a director? I hope to explore those questions through this project,” said Kore-eda in a statement.
“As always, it all began with the actors. I first met Song Kang-ho at the Busan International Film Festival and Kang Dong Won when he was in Tokyo for work. I have continued to stay in contact with the two actors in Tokyo, Seoul, Busan, and Cannes. At first, we simply exchanged greetings, but as we continued to share conversations, it naturally led to us talking about working on a film together. I worked with Bae Doona in 2009 (on “Air Doll”), and I thought to myself, ‘I hope we work together again, next time as a human character,’ and that dream has finally come true over 10 years later. And now I will be working on a film with crew members and Korean actors I greatly respect.”