
Hulu Drops Trailer For Spy Thriller K-Drama ‘Tempest'
After her husband – a presidential candidate – is assassinated in front of her, Seo Munju (Gianna Jun) tries to find the truth behind his death. She learns more than she bargained for, including conspiracies stretching all the way to the White House. As she uncovers more secrets, her life is put in danger. Mercenary Paik Sanho (Gang Dong-won) is hired to protect her, but he has secrets of his own.
The spy thriller series stars Jun Ji-hyun/Gianna Jun (Kingdom, My Love From The Star) and Gang Dong-won (The Priests, Peninsula, Broker), John Cho (Searching, Star Trek), Lee Misook (Queen of Tears), Park Haejoon (When Life Gives You Tangerines), Christopher Gorham (The Lincoln Lawyer, Ugly Betty), Michael Gaston (Prison Break, 24), and Spencer Garrett (For All Mankind, Bosch). It is directed by Kim Heewon (Queen of Tears, Vincenzo), co-directed by Heo Myeonghaeng (The Roundup: Punishment, Badland Hunters), and written by Chung Seokyung (Decision to Leave, Little Women).
Produced by Korean companies Imaginus, in association with Showrunners, AA, and Skydance, Tempest is one of the first Korean dramas to heavily feature American actors in prominent roles. Cho, a Korean American actor, plays a White House staffer who is somehow connected to Gang's character, Sanho.
During the Disney+ press conference for the series, held in Seoul yesterday, Carol Choi, executive vice president at Walt Disney Company APAC, said to expect 'a high-stakes romance, a cross-genre series blending espionage, romance, and action.'
She adds, "Like many of our global hits, it has specificity in the story, but ultimately touches on universal themes of power and ambition, truth and trust, critical to creating global hits."
Best known for his film work, Tempest also marks Gang's return to television since 2004. Screenwriter Chung Seokyung described casting the actor as 'winning the lottery,' and praised his performance.
'[Gang] portrayed Sanho masterfully, bringing out both the character's coldness and warmth, maturity, and boyishness – all at once,' Chung said.
Tempest premieres on September 10 on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+, launching with three episodes, then two episodes weekly released every Wednesday, with a total of nine episodes.
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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
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South Korea turns to culture in search of next fillip for growth
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India, Latin America and the Middle East, in particular, are promising new markets for Korean cultural products that have proved global hits, executives of major production firms told Reuters in interviews. "The Latin American region, recognised as the birthplace of Latin music, is a key area of focus," said Jason Jaesang Lee, chief executive of K-Pop agency HYBE, which manages BTS, in the spotlight for its return planned next spring. The agency is also running auditions in Latin America to launch another boyband, following last year's U.S. debut of girl group KATSEYE, whose six members hail from four countries. "It is time to reexamine the definition of Hallyu," Lee said. "If content is created abroad but produced by a Korean company, or even by an overseas entity backed by Korea capital, I believe it should still be considered part of Hallyu." Still, it is unlikely that cultural exports will replace regular manufacturing anytime soon. South Korea's exports of intellectual property (IP), from music and movie to games, more than tripled over the last decade to $9.85 billion in 2024, yet form just a fraction of goods exports, which rose 13% to stand at $696.2 billion, central bank data shows. Another firm expanding global business this year is CJ ENM, producer of "Parasite", which started to supply "K-dramas" to the Middle East and North Africa through a partnership with a regional streaming platform in June. "In the case of the Middle East, we see it as a market that is promising in the long term, because the popularity of Hallyu is high among the younger generation," said Sean Cho, executive vice president of the global business division. In the major markets of Japan, Southeast Asia and the United States, the company is widening partnerships, most recently with Amazon Prime Video, to deliver joint productions melding Korean elements with local culture, Cho added. For the game industry, a cash cow that accounts for more than half of South Korea's IP exports and is famed for Krafton's accolade-winning "PUBG: Battlegrounds", India promises to be the next growth market, though it is just a tenth of South Korea's. "India's game market is still at the early stage compared with other advanced countries," said Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of game publisher Krafton India, which plans to exploit the potential for growth by adding new genres and types of games. A 'BIG-FIVE' SOFT POWER President Lee Jae Myung, who took office on June 4, has pledged support and investment to make South Korea a "big-five soft power", aiming to grow the market to 300 trillion won in value and exports to 50 trillion won ($36 billion) by 2030. "But we can't just leave it up to individual companies," Lee told a recent talk show with Maggie Kang, director of KPop Demon Hunters, and K-Pop artists. "The government will play the role of laying a strong foundation and it starts now." 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San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
How Monica Lewinsky and Amanda Knox teamed up to reclaim Knox's narrative
Monica Lewinsky is keenly aware of what it feels like when your name is no longer your own and becomes attached to a character conjured by others. An affair that she had with President Bill Clinton nearly 30 years ago as a White House intern made her an international headline. So, when Lewinsky read that Amanda Knox, another woman whose image precedes her, wanted to adapt her memoir for the screen, she felt she was in a unique position to help. Knox was on a study abroad program in Italy in 2007 when one of her housemates, Meredith Kercher, was killed. She and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito quickly became the prime suspects. The story was a tabloid sensation and Knox was branded Foxy Knoxy. After a lengthy trial, she and Sollecito were convicted of Kercher's murder and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. They were later acquitted and exonerated. Knox has already told her story in two memoirs and it's been dramatized by others. There was a Lifetime movie about the case and she believes the 2021 movie 'Stillwater' starring Matt Damon was unfairly familiar. 'I have a story to tell because I have a mission, and my mission is to help people appreciate what really is going on when justice goes awry,' Knox said about why she entrusted Lewinsky to help tell her story through 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox,' a limited series now streaming on Hulu. The show stars Grace Van Patten ('Tell Me Lies'), and both Knox and Lewinsky are among its executive producers. 'This woman, who has gone through her own version of hell where the world had diminished her to a punchline inspired me to feel like maybe there was a path forward in my life,' Knox said. Lewinsky was not always in a place to help others reclaim their narrative because her own was too much to bear. She admits to vaguely hearing about Knox's case but didn't have the energy to give it attention. 'I was allergic to cases like this,' Lewinsky said. 'I had just come out of graduate school at the end of 2006. And 2007 was a very challenging year for me.' She believed graduate school would lead to a new beginning and desired to 'have a new identity and go get a job like a normal person.' She said the realization that wasn't going to happen 'was a pretty devastating moment.' In 2014, Lewinsky wrote a personal essay for Vanity Fair and became one of its contributors. She went on to produce a documentary and give a TedTalk called 'The Price of Shame,' addressing cyber-bullying and public-shaming. Educating others provided Lewinsky with a purpose she had been looking for. 'With most everything I do, it feels really important to me that it moves a conversation forward somehow,' said Lewinsky, who now hosts a podcast called 'Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky.' By the time they officially began working on 'Twisted Tale,' Lewinsky was in protective mode. The 52-year-old Lewinsky, 14 years older than Knox, wanted to shield her from painful moments. She recalled being particularly worried that Knox would be traumatized by reading the first script. 'It's someone else's interpretation. There's dramatic license,' explained Lewinsky, who said she can still 'have sensitivities' to reading something written about her. Instead, Knox was OK and Lewinsky learned they're 'triggered by different things.' She laughs about it now: 'Amanda's a lot more agreeable than me.' Knox said a part of her story that she wanted to make sure the TV series got right was the interrogation scene. She still describes it as 'the worst experience of my life and a really defining moment in how this whole case went off the rails. 'I was interrogated for 53 hours over five days. We don't see that on screen,' she said. 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'The scope of this story isn't, 'Here's the bad thing that happened to Amanda, the end.' The scope of the story is Amanda's going back to Italy and to appreciate why she made that choice, we need to go back and revisit everything that leads up to it,' said Knox. Viewers will also see others' perspectives, including Sollecito's, a prison chaplain and confidante, and Knox's mother. It also shows how the investigators and prosecutor reached the conclusion at the time that Knox and Sollecito were guilty. 'We did not want mustache-twirling villains,' said Knox. 'We wanted the audience to come away from the story thinking, 'I can relate to every single person in this perfect storm.' That, to me, was so, so important because I did not want to do the harm that had been done to me in the past.' 'It's showing all of these people who are going through the same situation and all truly believing they were doing the right thing,' added Van Patten. Knox isn't presented as perfect either in the series. 'I wasn't interested in doing a hagiography of Amanda Knox, nor was Amanda,' said Steinberg. Knox had a hard time adjusting to so-called 'real life' after she was acquitted and returned home to the United States, and that is shown in 'Twisted Tale.' 'I couldn't interact like a normal person with other people. I went back to school and there were students who were taking pictures of me in class and posting them to social media with really unkind commentary,' said Knox, adding the stigma has become 'a huge, like, life-defining problem for me to solve.' Knox said she's learned that there are positives and negatives to her unique situation. 'There are exoneree friends of mine who have been able to move on with a life and be around people who don't know about the worst experience of their life,' she said. 'That's kind of a blessing and a curse. 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Yahoo
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The 8 Best New Movies and Shows to Stream This Weekend on Netflix, HBO Max and More
It is a week packed full of animated and VOD premieres Three major blockbusters all arrive on streaming this week, as does one of the year's most acclaimed low-budget independent films. James Gunn's highly anticipated follow-up to 'Superman' makes its long-awaited premiere on HBO Max this week as well, while Netflix and Hulu subscribers have a trio of promising new TV shows to look forward to. You should not, in other words, have any trouble finding something new to watch at home over the coming few days. Here are the eight best new movies and shows you can stream this weekend. More from TheWrap The 8 Best New Movies and Shows to Stream This Weekend on Netflix, HBO Max and More 'South Park': Tim Cook and More Oligarchs Suck Up to Trump and Towelie Meets a Dark Fate in DC 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox' Release Schedule: When Are New Episodes Out? 'Peacemaker' Season 2 Release Schedule: What Time Does It Premiere? 'The Bad Guys 2' (2025) One of the year's most fun animated comedies, 'The Bad Guys 2,' hit video-on-demand this week, which means you now have the chance to rent or buy it from the comfort of your own home. You should consider doing just that, too. A sequel to its hit 2022 predecessor, the film follows its central crew of 'Bad Guys' as they're forced out of retirement in order to join forces with a new, all-female squad of criminals to try to pull off one last, career-defining heist. Directed with the same slick sense of style and boasting the same endearing streak of tongue-in-cheek humor that made the first film so enjoyable, 'The Bad Guys 2' is the perfect way to spend a Friday or Saturday night. 'Elio' (2025) Speaking of endearing animated films that can entertain the whole family, Disney and Pixar's 'Elio' has also arrived on the VOD market this week. When it hit theaters in early June, the film's release was overshadowed a bit by its many delays and reports about its behind-the-scenes rewrites and creative overhauls. What was lost amidst all of that noise was the fact that the finished film was sweet, charming fun. Co-directed by 'Turning Red' filmmaker Domee Shi, 'Elio' follows an eleven-year-old misfit who finds himself transported to space when he is mistakenly identified as Earth's intergalactic ambassador. Featuring more than a few cute, cuddly aliens and enough sci-fi whimsy to make your heart flutter at least a few times, 'Elio' would be a worthy addition to any watchlists this weekend. 'Familiar Touch' (2025) Here is a film that probably was not on your radar this week. 'Familiar Touch,' writer-director Sarah Friedland's feature directorial debut, is one of the most acclaimed films of the year so far. Now available to rent or buy at home, the film follows an elderly woman (a spell-binding Kathleen Chalfant) whose transition to an assisted-living facility is challenged by her evolving relationships with herself and her new caregivers, as well as her own, declining cognitive abilities. Featuring a surprising supporting turn by 'Bob's Burgers' voice actor H. Jon Benjamin, 'Familiar Touch' is neither as emotionally manipulative as its premise suggests nor as oppressively bleak. It is a celebration of life, as well as an acknowledgement of the inevitable end of it. As far as this week's streaming offerings go, 'Familiar Touch' is unlike any other entry on this list, and if you give it a chance, you will likely find yourself moved by its grace and low-key, understated power. 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' (2025) You could not find a movie that has less in common with 'Familiar Touch' than 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.' The latter, which purports to be the last installment in the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise, is another action extravaganza overflowing with practical stunts that boggle the mind and set pieces that deserve to be seen on as big a screen as possible. Now, several months after it made its theatrical debut, the film has arrived on VOD. While 'The Final Reckoning' is nowhere near the best 'Mission: Impossible' movie, it is still a thrilling and often astounding blockbuster. If you put off watching it back in May, now is your chance to finally tick it off your standing watchlist. 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox' (Hulu) A limited series that ambitiously tries to dramatize one of the 21st century's oddest and most well-publicized true-crime stories, 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox' has finally arrived on Hulu. Created by K.J. Steinberg, the series centers on its eponymous protagonist ('Tell Me Lies' star Grace Van Patten) as her study abroad in Italy takes a horrifying turn when she is wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of her roommate. The aptly titled 'Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox' follows Van Patten's Amanda as she is forced to prove her innocence — both in the court and in the press. The first two episodes of the series premiered Wednesday on Hulu. Its remaining six episodes are set to debut weekly on Wednesdays moving forward. If you're a true crime fan, this is one series you won't want to miss. 'Hostage' (Netflix) Netflix's 'Hostage' has the potential to be a riveting, pulpy breakout hit this week. 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It is unclear how 'Peacemaker' Season 2 will deal with its past episodes' ties to the DCEU, but viewers do know that the new season takes place after 'Superman' and that they should expect to see plenty more violence, humor, romance and universe-hopping shenanigans. The season's first episode premieres Thursday on HBO Max, and its remaining seven installments will follow one at a time every Wednesday through Oct. 9. Coming off the success of both its first season and 'Superman,' 'Peacemaker' Season 2 ranks easily one of this week's biggest streaming premieres. 'Long Story Short' (Netflix) 'BoJack Horseman' creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg returns this week with his newest Netflix original, 'Long Story Short.' Animated in the same colorful, zany style as Bob-Waksberg's previous series, 'Long Story Short' follows the members of a middle-class Jewish family as they grow up, change and experience their own victories and failures over the course of 30 years. Featuring a star-studded voice cast headlined by Ben Feldman, Abbi Jacobson, Max Greenfield, Lisa Edelstein and Paul Reiser, the series promises to offer the same mix of absurdist humor and melancholic emotions that made 'BoJack Horseman' such a fan-favorite hit. The series' entire first season premieres Friday on Netflix, and 'Long Story Short' has already been renewed for a second season as well. That should give you the confidence to dive right in this weekend. Unlike a lot of other Netflix originals, you won't have to worry about it going away anytime soon. The post The 8 Best New Movies and Shows to Stream This Weekend on Netflix, HBO Max and More appeared first on TheWrap. Solve the daily Crossword