Don Lee "'THE ROUNDUP: PUNISHMENT' is scheduled to be released in April"

Don Lee expressed his faith in director Heo Myung-haeng, who worked with him on the Netflix movie 'Badland Hunters'.

On the 1st, I met Don Lee, the main character of the Netflix movie 'Badland Hunters', at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Seoul.

'Badland Hunters' is an action blockbuster depicting the struggle for survival among those living in a ruined, lawless land. Namsan, played by Don Lee, is a wilderness hunter who lives in a devastated world by bartering for food he hunts. He moves to save Suna, whom he loves like a daughter, when she is in danger.

Director Heo Myung-haeng is famous as a martial arts director of the 'New World', 'Train to Busan', and 'THE ROUNDUP' series. ‘Badland Hunters’ is his directorial debut.

Don Lee expressed his faith in coach Heo Myung-haeng, saying, “I thought he would do well for a long time.” He continued, "There is no such thing as just movement in an action. Even in 'Wilderness', there is a story about saving Suna within the action of Namsan. That emotion is expressed through action. Director Heo is an excellent person in that respect."

Don Lee said, “I have watched Director Heo direct action scenes for a long time. I personally have great faith in Director Heo.” He continued, "Director Heo's 'Wilderness' is the beginning. I believe he will later make good films regardless of genre that people around the world will be more excited about." He also said, "We worked together for a long time. It's like we went to 10 wars together. Coach Heo is a former Taekwondo athlete and I am a former boxer, so the texture of the action is different. The different sports create more synergy." He added.

Don Lee also worked with director Heo on ‘THE ROUNDUP: PUNISHMENT’. 'THE ROUNDUP: PUNISHMENT' was invited to the special gala section of this year's Berlin Film Festival. Don Lee said, "'THE ROUNDUP: PUNISHMENT' is a film that I worked hard to make as a producer for a long time. It is even more meaningful because it is the first Korean series film to go to Berlin. I am grateful." He continued, "I got a high score in the blind preview. The story is a bit heavy and there is a lot of comedy. I think I'm lucky. I'm happy." He also hoped, "It will likely be released around April. I hope the audience will like it a lot."

‘Badland Hunters’ was released on Netflix on January 26th. Within three days of its release, it recorded 14.3 million views (viewing time divided by the total running time of the work), ranking first in the non-English language category and second in the overall category among Netflix's global TOP 10 movies. It was listed in the TOP 10 list in a total of 82 countries, including Korea, Brazil, Italy, Spain, France, and Taiwan.

Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr