Neon has reteamed with Korean director Park Chan-wook and Parasite studio CJ ENM by taking the North American rights to the violent comedy thriller No Other Choice.
Korean film royalty Lee Byung-hun and Son Yejin star in the thriller about Man-soo (Lee), who is abruptly laid off by the paper company where he worked tirelessly for many years. Man-soo grows increasingly desperate in his hunt for new work, and eventually resolves to kill his job competitors.
Son plays Man-soo’s wife, the warm-hearted Mi-ri in the latest film from Korean cinema to reflect beyond a core narrative the Asian country’s underlying economic and political tensions. Chan-wook’s 12th movie is an adaptation of American novelist Donald Westlake’s 1996 novel The Ax.
Westlake’s novel was previously adapted into French by Costa Gavras as the 2005 film Le Couperet (The Ax). The ensemble cast for Chan-wook’s Korean adaptation includes Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won, and Yoo Yeon-seok.
The latest film by Chan-wook (Decision to Leave, The Handmaiden) is financed by Korean studio giant CJ ENM, which teamed with Neon on the Oscar-winning Parasite drama.
Neon and Chan-wook also earlier collaborated on the re-release of Oldboy in theaters in 2023 to mark the film’s 20th anniversary. No Other Choice is in post-production, and an awards season push for the Korean film is expected from Neon after its success with Parasite.
The producer credits on No Other Choice are shared by Chan-wook, Back Jisun, Michèle Ray Gavras and Alexandre Gavras, with Miky Lee executive producing. The North American distribution deal was negotiated by Jason Wald for Neon and Namyoung Kim at CJ ENM.
