Tag: Minari

  • ‘Twister’ sequel gets a 2024 release date

    By Express News Service

    Twisters, the upcoming sequel to the 1996 film Twister, will hit the theatres on July 19, 2024, the production banners Universal and Amblin Entertainment announced recently.

    The film will be directed by Isaac Chung and written by Mark L Smith. Chung’s Minari bagged a nomination for Best Director at the 2022 Academy Awards.

    The 1996 film, directed by Jan de Bont, revolved around a university professor Jo Harding (Helen Hunt), her estranged partner William Bill (Bill Paxton) and a team of students, who are set on to prepare a prototype for Dorothy, a ground-breaking tornado data-collection system.

    Twisters, the upcoming sequel to the 1996 film Twister, will hit the theatres on July 19, 2024, the production banners Universal and Amblin Entertainment announced recently.

    The film will be directed by Isaac Chung and written by Mark L Smith. Chung’s Minari bagged a nomination for Best Director at the 2022 Academy Awards.

    The 1996 film, directed by Jan de Bont, revolved around a university professor Jo Harding (Helen Hunt), her estranged partner William Bill (Bill Paxton) and a team of students, who are set on to prepare a prototype for Dorothy, a ground-breaking tornado data-collection system.

  • ‘Minari’ director Lee Isaac Chung exits live-action adaptation of ‘Your Name’

    By Express News Service
    Minari director Lee Isaac Chung has exited Paramount and Bad Robot’s live-action adaptation of Your Name. According to Deadline, scheduling conflicts in the project led to the exit of the director and that the studios are looking for a replacement.

    The original Your Name anime is one of Japan’s biggest hits, grossing over $303 million domestically. It revolves around a teenage boy and a teenage girl from different parts of Japan who soon discover that they have the ability to swap bodies. 

    They soon also discover that they are separated by time and space, and when a disaster threatens one of their towns, the two need to get together and find a way to stop it from happening.

    The film is produced by Bad Robot’s JJ Abrams, along with Genki Kawamura, who produced the originalChung landed the job after his critically acclaimed Minari became one of the most popular films of last year, and took that momentum all the way to a Best Picture nomination at this year’s Oscars. 

  • Lee Isaac Chung’s Academy Award-nominated drama  ‘Minari’ to release on Amazon Prime Video

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung’s Academy Award-nominated drama “Minari” will have its digital premiere on May 11 on Amazon Prime Video, the streamer announced on Sunday.

    “Minari”, a semi-autobiographical drama about a family of Korean immigrants trying to realise their American dream in the 1980s, was released in Indian theatres by PVR Pictures on April 9.

    It revolves around Jacob (Steven Yeun), a young Korean-American father who along with his wife and two children moves from California to a farm in rural Arkansas in pursuit of stability.

    Starring “The Walking Dead” alum Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho and Will Patton, the movie is predominantly in Korean language.

    Veteran South Korean star Yuh-jung Youn won the Oscar for the best supporting actress at the 93rd Academy Awards for her performance in the film, which was nominated in six categories including best picture, best director, best actor (Yeun), and the best supporting actress (Yuh-jung).

    “Minari” also won the best foreign-language Golden Globe award.

  • WATCH | ‘I didn’t smell him, I’m not a dog’: Youn Yuh Jung responds to media after viral moment with Brad Pitt on Oscar stage

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Youn Yuh Jung, who bagged Oscar for Best Supporting Female Actor for ‘Minari’, has been hogging the limelight for the adorable remarks she made about Brad Pitt in her winning speech.

    It seems the ‘Minari’ star has a ‘fan girl’ inside her which shed its inhibitions after seeing the charming ‘Moneyball’ star in front of her.

    Youn, who delivered perhaps the most memorable acceptance speech of the 2021 Oscars, has been trending over social media since she made adorable onstage remarks about ‘Minari’ executive producer Brad Pitt after he presented her with Best Supporting Actress.

    “Mr Brad Pitt, finally. Nice to meet you. Where were you while we were filming in Tulsa? Very honored to meet you,” she said to Brad while he bashfully smiled at her.

    The limited crowd at L.A.’s Union Station laughed at Youn’s remark, perhaps thinking it was a playful flirtation.

    Not only this, the 73-year-old performer kept the quips coming backstage too. According to E! News, when a reporter asked what she talked about with Pitt and if she could describe how he smells, Youn replied with a laugh, “I didn’t smell him. I’m not a dog.”

    #Minari star and Academy Award winner Yuh-Jung Youn responds to a question backstage at the #Oscars about what Brad Pitt smells like: “I didn’t smell him, I’m not dog.” pic.twitter.com/eZs6YGq60V
    — Film Updates (@TheFilmUpdates) April 26, 2021

    She went on to say she has been a fan of Brad since he was “young,” and that she “couldn’t believe” it when he announced her name to present her with the Oscar.

    “Maybe I just blacked out a couple of seconds,” she continued. “What should I say, ‘Where am I?’ or something like that? But I kept asking my friend, ‘Am I saying it right? Do they understand what I’m trying to say?’” she added with a laugh.

    E! News reported that Youn also praised the ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ actor for the way he said her name during the ceremony.

    “I can tell he practised a lot–he didn’t mispronounce my name. That moment, when I got there, I [was] just lost. What I was supposed to say, ‘Should I begin?’ or something?,” she shared. 

    ALSO READ: China censors Oscars success of history-making director Chloe Zhao

    In Minari, Youn played the role of Soon-ja, “grandma” to young David, who comes from Korea to stay with the family on their farm in Arkansas. She brings with her the “minari” seeds that give the film its title.

    ‘Minari’ has been directed by Lee Isaac Chung and it stars Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Youn Yuh-Jung, and Will Patton. The film is a semi-autobiographical take on Chung’s upbringing and the plot follows a family of South Korean immigrants who try to make it in rural America during the 1980s.

    The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony took place two months later than originally planned, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the entertainment industry.

    The nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards were announced on March 15 this year. This is only the fourth time in history that the Academy Awards were postponed.

  • Yuh-Jung Youn wins Best Supporting Actress award for ‘Minari’ in 93rd Oscars

    By Associated Press
    WASHINGTON: South Korean actor Youn Yuh-jung,’ the feisty grandmother in “Minari”, captured more than her grandson’s heart.

    Youn, a prominent film and TV actor in her home country of South Korea, won the best supporting actress award at Sunday’s Oscars. She’s the second Asian actress to win in the category, more than four decades after Japanese-born Miyoshi Umeki earned the trophy for 1957’s “Sayonara”.

    In her acceptance speech, Youn was as charmingly candid as her character in “Minari”. “You are all forgiven” for what she called the frequent mangling of her name, she said, smiling. She acknowledged what she called her “Minari” family and the formidable peers in the category.

    “I don’t believe in competition. How can I win over Glenn Close,” she said of her fellow nominee. She credited a “little bit of luck” for her Oscar, “and maybe American hospitality for the Korean actor”. She also thanked her two sons, “who make me go out and work. ….This is the result, because Mommy works so hard,” Youn said, holding her Oscar aloft.

    Youn teased presenter Brad Pitt, who announced her award and whose company was involved in the production of “Minari”, for not visiting the set in Oklahoma. “Nice to meet you,” she said, later taking his arm as she walked offstage. Pitt gave her the envelope containing her name.

    The first Korean woman to be nominated for an Oscar, Youn’s victory comes one year after academy voters snubbed the South Korean cast of best picture winner “Parasite”.

    Youn plays Soon-ja, a card-playing grandmom with a knack for swearing, who’s moved from Korea to join her daughter and stepson in his seemingly quixotic quest to trade dispiriting work in California for farming in Arkansas. Soon-ja and her initially wary grandson form an unlikely but loving bond.

    Youn, making a rare US screen appearance in “Minari”, captured a string of honors for the semi-autobiographical film based on the childhood of Korean American director Lee Isaac Chung.

    The Screen Actors Guild and the British film and TV academy were among those honoring her performance in “Minari”, which earned Oscar nominations including best picture, director and lead actor for Steven Yuen (“The Walking Dead”).

    Youn became an instant film star in South Korea with her 1971 debut “Fire Woman”. At the peak of her career, she married popular singer Cho Young-nam and moved with him to the United States, where he performed at Billy Graham’s church.

    Her American detour put her career on hold for nearly a decade, until she returned to South Korea, her marriage ended and she resumed acting.

  • Stressful to be first Korean actress nominated for an Oscar: ‘Minari’ star Youn Yuh-Jung

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: “Minari” star Youn Yuh-Jung says it is “very stressful” to be the first South Korean actor to be nominated at the Academy Awards.

    The veteran star, one of the biggest names in the South Korean cinema, is up for Best Supporting Actress for her powerful role as grandmother Soonja in Lee Isaac Chung’s Best Picture nominee “Minari”, a story that revolves around South Korean immigrants searching for their own American dream in rural Arkansas.

    When Deadline asked what it’s like to be the first Korean actress nominated for an Oscar, the 73-year-old actor said, “Very stressful”.

    “I was just very happy being nominated. I never even dreamed about being nominated for an Oscar. People will be very happy for me if I get the win, but it’s very stressful.”

    Youn won the Best Supporting Actress trophy at both the BAFTA awards and Screen Ators Guild Awards, which strengthen’s her chances at the Oscars later this month.

    The ator is competing against Maria Bakalova for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”, Glenn Close for “Hillbilly Elegy”, Olivia Colman for “The Father”, and Amanda Seyfried for “Mank”.

  • Bong Joon Ho was very encouraging, says ‘Minari’ director Lee Isaac Chung

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: “Minari” director Lee Isaac Chung says getting praised by somebody with as strong an eye for detail as Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon Ho was a “real treat”.

    Lee spoke to the “Parasite” filmmaker over a phone call and though he was initially nervous, he was elated when he found out that Bong liked his film.

    “I feel like he was very happy for us and he’s very encouraging. I’m so glad he likes the movie. That’s a real treat for me. He has a very strong eye for detail. I was nervous talking to him but I was so glad that he picked up on a lot of details that excited me about the film,” the filmmaker told PTI during a virtual roundtable with international journalists.

    Lee, 42, didn’t watch “Parasite” while he was editing “Minari” as he was afraid that it would end up influencing him.

    He waited until he was done editing his movie to finally watch the movie.

    “And I was blown away by what he (Bong) did (in the movie). I told him, as we were on that call together, that he made the perfect movie.”

    While “Parasite” was a dark satire on the rich-poor divide in South Korea, Lee’s semi-autobiographical drama comes from a more personal space.

    ALSO READ | Loved Oscar winner Parasite? Here are five more Bong Joon-ho movies to binge-watch during COVID-19 lockdown

    It revolves around Jacob (Steven Yeun), a youn Korean-American father who along with his wife and two children moves from California to a farm in rural Arkansas in search of their American dream in 1980s.

    Predominantly in Korean language and slated to be released in Indian theatres by PVR Pictures on April 16, the film has emerged as one of the front-runners in this year’s Hollywood award season.

    “Minari” is vying for six Oscars at the 93rd Academy Awards, including best picture, best director, best actor (Yeun), and the best supporting actress (Youn Yuh-jung).

    It has already won the best foreign-language Golden Globe and the best-supporting actress BAFTA for Youn.

    Lee is surprised by the extraordinary journey the project, which was a low budget film and a “stressful shoot” for him, has had.

    “I had no idea any of this would happen. It’s been a wild ride and I have been touched by audiences who are connecting with this film,” he said.

    There was a strong echo of the past as Lee began filming “Minari.

    The director remembers that when they moved to Arkansas in the 80s, it was the time of a great farm crisis in America, and while he was prepping for the film, he read news stories that there was a possibility that it was happening again.

    “So I felt like there’s something happening in which there’s a cycle that’s happening for me on a personal level and then perhaps in our country in which farming, and also immigration was becoming quite an issue, and it continues to be an issue now,” he said.

    Lee also believes that the ’80s era somehow captures something of the present.

    “We couldn’t have imagined that the pandemic would raise another echo of what’s happening in the story, which is a family having to come together due to suffering and due to catastrophe in a way,” the director said, explaining that the story emerged from a personal space but somehow found “more echoes” along the way.

    “That has been the nature of this project.

    Somehow, we’re submitting to something in the creative process of finding new things as we go, I guess,” he added.

    While writing Jacob’s character, Lee thought a lot about the cinema of American screen icon James Dean as he felt he wanted someone like that for the role.

    “An important theme that I thought about while I was writing Jacob was a scene from ‘East of Eden’ where James Dean discovers that his crops are growing, and then he runs around in the field and rolls in the dirt.

    He does something similar in ‘Giant’ when he discovers oil, there’s this massive celebration.

    “I remember feeling like this is the sort of Jacob that I want, and especially for the scene where he discovers water and the scenes when he gets the tractor and when farming seems to be going his way.

    I didn’t have any specific actor.

    But lo and behold, I feel like I found James Dean in Steven.

    ” The director said he was surprised when Yeun, a major Hollywood Korean-American star with credits such as “The Walking Dead” and “Burning”, also brought up Dean during their discussion.

    “I remember really being floored when he brought it up because that was in my mind as I was writing.

    So it was great that we got to come together on this and to create these characters together,” Lee said.

    The film also features Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho and Will Patton.

  • Oscar-nominated drama ‘Minari’ to release in India in April

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical drama “Minari” is set to be released in Indian theatres on April 16.

    Headlined by “The Walking Dead” alum Steven Yeun, “Minari” is about a family of Korean immigrants trying to realise their American dream in the 1980s.

    It also stars Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Youn Yuh-jung and Will Patton.

    The movie, predominantly in Korean language, will be released by PVR pictures in the country.

    As an independent film, “Minari” had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, winning both the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the US Dramatic Audience Award.

    Courtesy word of mouth, stellar performance by the ensemble cast and Chung’s tender storytelling, “Minari” has become a favourite this awards season, bagging the best foreign film Golden Globe and Young Performer Critics Choice Award for child actor Kim.

    The film also recently scored six Academy Award nominations for best picture, director, original screenplay, best actor (Yeun), best supporting actress (Youn) and original score for Emile Mosseri.

    “Minari” has also booked six BAFTA awards nominations, including a spot in the Best Film Not in the English Language category.

  • ‘Minari’ wins best foreign film Golden Globe after being deemed ineligible for best picture nod

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: “Minari”, a semi-autobiographical drama about a family of Korean immigrants trying to realise their American dream in the 1980s, has won the best foreign film Golden Globe following a controversy around the its classification that led the movie to be overlooked in the best picture race.

    The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the body that conducts the Globes, courted sharp criticism from several personalities, including Lulu Wang, Simu Liu, and Phil Lord after it relegated the Lee Isaac Chung directorial to the foreign-language category given that the film was financed and produced by American companies, A24 and Plan B, respectively.

    The cast, led by “The Walking Dead” alum Steven Yeun, and crew were also majority made up of American talent.

    Also starring Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Youn Yuh-jung, and Will Patton, “Minari” was only nominated in one category.

    It really was a family affair for Chung, whose seven-year-old daughter was sitting in his lap, as accepted the award, his first.

    The filmmaker thanked the “Minari” team, his cousins, his parents, his sister, and his wife, who he said was “hiding”.

    “And this one here,” he said patting his daughter who went on to hug him tightly, adding “she is the reason I made this film.”

    Chung, who has received rave reviews for the film, also addressed the controversy around its nomination.

    The second-generation Korean American said “Minari” is about a family that is trying to speak a language of its own.

    “It goes deeper than any American or foreign language,” he added.

    “It’s a language of the heart and I’m trying to learn it myself and pass it on. I hope a lot of (people) learn how to speak this language of love to each other especially this year.

    God bless you all and thank you,” Chung said as he closed his acceptance speech.

    As per the rules of the HFPA, the contenders for the best drama or comedy/musical categories must feature at least 50 per cent English dialogues.

  • David Fincher’s ‘Mank’, Steven Yeun-starrer ‘Minari’ lead Critics Choice Awards nominations

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: David Fincher’s “Mank” and Steven Yeun-starrer “Minari” led the nominations for the 26th Critics Choice Awards that saw streamer Netflix triumph over traditional Hollywood studios.

    Four movies from Netflix — “Mank”, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, “Da 5 Bloods” and “The Trial of Chicago 7” — are leading the coveted best picture race.

    “Mank”, a black and white drama about “Citizen Kane” writer Herman Mankiewicz, bagged 12 nominations, including nods for Fincher, lead actor Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried in supporting actress category.

    ‘Mank’ trailer:

    George C Wolfe-directed “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, about the eponymous influential blues singer, and filmmaker Spike Lee’s war drama “Da 5 Bloods”, both starring late actor Chadwick Boseman, amassed eight and six nominations each.

    Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom feature “The Trial of Chicago 7”, which was another critically-acclaimed movie from Netflix stable, bagged six nods, including best director and screenplay for the filmmaker and best supporting actor for Sacha Baron Cohen.

    These four movies will compete in the best picture race alongside “Minari”, “News of the World”, “Nomadland”, “One Night in Miami”, “Promising Young Woman” and “Sound of Metal”.

    For both “Mank” and “The Trial of Chicago 7”, it was a repeat of their performance at the nominations for the Golden Globes where the two movies lead in major categories.

    “Minari”, the semi-autobiographical tale of a Korean family moving to Arkansas in the 1980s, was majorly snubbed for Globes, but bounced back in the award season race with 10 nominations at Critics Choice Awards, announced Monday.

    Check out ‘Minari’ trailer here:

    Filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung received two nods for best director and original screenplay, while the film’s lead star Steven Yeun features in the best actor race.

    The film is also nominated for the best supporting actress (Yuh-Jung Youn), best young actor/actress (Alan Kim), best acting ensemble, best cinematography, best foreign language film and best score for Emile Mosseri.

    Boseman, who died in August last year after a secretive battle with cancer, became the first actor to receive two posthumous nominations in the same year for his work in “Da 5 Bloods” (best supporting actor) and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (best actor).

    In the best actor race, the other prominent contenders are Ben Affleck (“The Way Back”), Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Tom Hanks (“News of the World”), Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”) and Delroy Lindo (“Da 5 Bloods”).

    The best director race features three female filmmakers — Chloe Zhao (“Nomadland”), Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) and Regina King (“One Night in Miami”).

    Carey Mulligan, the star of #MeToo drama “Promising Young Woman”, will face tough competition in the best actress category with the presence of Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”), Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”) and Zendaya (“Malcolm & Marie”).

    The 26th edition of the Critics Choice Awards will be hosted by Taye Diggs for a third consecutive time on March 7.

    Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the award ceremony will be an in-person/virtual hybrid show with Diggs and some of the presenters filming from a stage in Los Angeles.

    The nominees will appear remotely from various locations around the world.