The Korean-American Who Is Hollywood's Link to Asia

The Departed, the Hollywood remake of the Hong Kong film Internal Affairs starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung, won four Oscars including best director for Martin Scorsese, best picture, best adapted screenplay and best editing, at the 79th Academy award in Los Angeles on Sunday (local time). This also brought a Korean American into the spotlight: Vertigo Entertainment CEO Roy Lee, who was an executive producer on the movie.

Hollywood studios rely on Lee's Asian sensibility and network to find Asian movies suitable for remakes. He has had a hand in introducing almost all Asian horror movies that found an enthusiastic audience in the U.S., including The Ring and Ju-on: The Grudge from Japan. An adaptation of A Tale of Two Sisters, a Korean horror film Lee picked up, will be completed by the end of this year. Lee was also involved in The Lake House, the remake of Il Mare, the first Hollywood remake of a Korean film. A remake of another Korean movie, Addicted with Lee Byung-hun and Lee Mi-yeon, will start shooting soon with Grudge' star Sarah Michelle Gellar. Lee also introduced My Sassy Girl and My Wife is a Gangster to DreamWorks and Miramax.

Born to a doctor father and a teacher mother, Roy Lee worked as a lawyer after graduating from George Washington University and American University’s Washington School of Law.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
Source: english.chosun.com

doozy: Okay, so the article above is interesting and all.. But, the MAIN reason why I posted this article is because of the gross mistake of mispelling the title of a movie. People, for the umphteen time, the US film Departed is a remake of the HK movie titled INFERNAL AFFAIRS. The original movie is from Hong Kong, not Japan; and that's Infernal Affairs with an "f" and not Internal Affairs with a "t."

Seriously, it's not like Infernal Affairs is some indie, low-budget movie that wasn't a huge success and isn't well-known. If even a non-movie buff like myself know the correct title, then shouldn't people who are in the biz know more than I do?

Geez, I wonder how Hollywood would feel if foreign countries called the remake The Deported, instead of The Departed.

Here's a poster of the HK movie for confirmation, in case you think I'm on some halucinogen.