Korean actor Lee Do-hyun's big screen debut Exhuma is creating waves at the Korean box office, and even global market. The occult movie premiered in the Forum section at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival in February this year, before releasing in the same month in South Korean. Amid commercial and critical acclaim, it soon emerged as the most successful Korean film even in Vietnam and Indonesia, apart from being the highest-grossing domestic film of 2024 in Korea so far.
Exhuma has become a standout movie in the Korean horror-supernatural space. With a 92 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, Exhuma has take over Korean classics like Parasite and Snowpiercer to become the sixth highest-grossing domestic film in Korea.
Exhuma also stars Kim Go-Eun, Choi Min-Sik, Yoo Hae-Jin and Kim Sun-Young. Written and directed by Jang Jae-hyun, Exhuma includes themes of mystery and occult, following the process of excavating an ominous grave, which unleashes dreadful consequences buried underneath. It touches upon the deep trauma of modern Korean history.
Do-Hyun and Go-Eun play shamans who get hired by a chaebol family in Los Angeles with the task of tracing the origins of a string of extremely bad luck that has plagued its members. As the two shamans, along with a feng shui master delve deeper into the case, they realise that the family's issues originate from the inappropriate burial of one of the family's ancestors. As they proceed to exhume and relocate the remains, things go awry, and the trio face much bigger obstacles.
Do-Hyun portrays Bong-gil, a Generation Z shaman with a hipster flair. His major characterisation came from a complete physical transformation that required him to cover his entire body with tattoos.
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The 29-year-old actor told Korea Times, "I loved it. That appearance made me realize a side that even I didn’t know. From the start, the director said ‘I want Bong-gil to make a strong first impression. If it’s fine, I'd like you to use a wig and have tattoos tightly wrapping your body.’ And I accepted it, thinking when I would have a chance to try something like that."
"The makeup process was not easy… But I felt there’s significant power that external elements give in forging a strong first impression, which the director was also emphasizing. So we were able to create the ‘authentically hip’ Bong-gil," he added.
For him Bong-gil was a character "with a strong sense of responsibility, rather than as someone solely motivated by money."
Known for hit shows like The Good Bad Mother, 18 Again, Youth of May and The Glory, Lee Do-Hyun reprised his role of Lee Eun-hyuk in the latest release Sweet Home 3. He is currently away serving his mandstory miliray services.
2024-07-26T09:59:24Z dg43tfdfdgfd