Song Joong-ki. Image from HighZium Studio via The Korea Herald / ANN
Actor Song Joong-ki will appear as North Korean defector Loh Ki-wan in a new Netflix film titled “My Name is Loh Kiwan,” the global streaming service said in unveiling the cast for the film Tuesday.
The film will depict Loh’s struggles in Belgium as a new settler and his encounter with Mari (Choi Sung-eun) who has grown despondent about life and love.
Song will play a North Korean defector for the first time in his 15-year career. He has shown great versatility in his filmography, having played a vagrant father who lost his daughter in space in the Netflix sci-fi film “Space Sweepers,” a righteous lawyer working for the Italian mafia in “Vincenzo”, and a character who is falsely accused of embezzlement and killed by the youngest son of a rich family in “Reborn Rich.”
Kim Hee-jin, the director and writer for “My Name is Loh Kiwan,” came to the film industry’s attention with her 2010 indie film “A Brand New Journey” and has won various awards at local film festivals including the Jeonju International Film Festival.
“My Name is Loh Kiwan” will be her feature film debut.
In late January, Song confirmed that he already tied the knot with his British partner, Katy Louise Saunders, and that they’re expecting their first child.