Fresh off of co-directing HBO‘s The Sympathizer earlier this year, acclaimed Korean director Park Chan-wook will soon get cameras rolling on his latest feature, I Can’t Help It. Filming begins this Saturday for the BAFTA winner’s latest, which is set to adapt Donald Westlake‘s 1996 novel The Ax. This will mark the auteur’s 12th feature film and his first since the 2022 release of his much-lauded mystery romance Decision to Leave. CJ ENM, which is handling distribution and financing, doesn’t have a release window in mind yet, though it is highly likely Park could make his grand return at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
I Can’t Help It follows Man-soo, a man down on his luck after being abruptly laid off from the paper company where he has spent many years toiling away. His desperation only grows by the day as his search for employment fails miserably, leading him to a point where he’s willing to kill his competitors to secure a new job. Billed as a comedy thriller, it’ll mark the second time Westlake‘s novel has made it to the big screen. French director Costa-Gavras adapted The Ax into the 2005 title Le Couperet with critical fanfare, and Park‘s film similarly plans to stick close to the source material.
At the head of the cast is Korean mega-star and Squid Game‘s Front Man Lee Byung-hun, marking a reunion over 20 years in the making since Park previously cast him in his acclaimed 2000 DMZ thriller Joint Security Area. He’ll play Man-soo alongside another big name, Son Ye-jin, who’ll co-star as his warm-hearted wife Mi-ri in her first proper collaboration with Park. Joining the pair are Lee Sung-min and Yeom Hye-ran as another couple facing similar unemployment strife, Park Hee-soon as the paper company’s team leader, Cha Seung-won as one of Man-soo’s chief job competitors, and Yoo Yeon-seok as one of Mi-ri’s colleagues.
‘I Can’t Help It’ Keeps Chan-wook Busy Amid Multiple Projects
With production soon beginning on I Can’t Help It, Park continues a crowded stretch of projects following the release of Decision to Leave. The Sympathizer saw him take up showrunner duties alongside Don McKellar to adapt the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name earlier this year to great success. Featuring the pairing of Hoa Xuande and Robert Downey Jr. at the top of the call sheet, the historical black dramedy miniseries follows a North Vietnamese captain’s journey towards the end of the Vietnam War as he flees to the United States and lives among South Korean refugees. Park‘s masterpiece revenge thriller Oldboy also saw a re-release in theaters for its 20th anniversary last year through Neon, but the director has bigger plans as he’s slated to adapt it for television in the near future through Lionsgate Television.
Stay tuned here at Collider for more on I Can’t Help It as filming gets underway. In the meantime, all episodes of Park‘s last project, The Sympathizer, are available to stream now on Max.
via Collider