IU joins star-studded movie cast

Singer IU performs at the 35th Golden Disc Awards at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Jan. 9. / Courtesy of Golden Disc Awards

By Park Han-sol

Actor and singer-songwriter IU will star in the award-winning Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda's upcoming film, tentatively titled “Baby, Box, Broker,” production company Zip Cinema announced Monday.

The singer has thus joined the film's star-studded cast which includes Song Kang-ho of Oscar-winning “Parasite,” Gang Dong-won of zombie thriller “Peninsula” and Bae Doo-na of epic sci-film “Cloud Atlas” and Netflix original series “Kingdom.”

The details regarding her role in the movie have not been confirmed yet.

“Broker” centers on individuals whose relationships revolve around the baby box, a controversial facility which provides a heated box in which people can anonymously leave unwanted babies. The film, on which the acclaimed filmmaker and local staff have been working on the script for the past five years, is scheduled to begin production during the first half of this year.

This will be Kore-eda's first Korean film and the second film set outside his home country Japan after “The Truth” (2019), starring Catherine Deneuve and Ethan Hawke, which was shot in French and English.

Kore-eda won the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 2013 for “Like Father, Like Son” and the festival's Palme d'Or for “Shoplifters” in 2018.

IU previously starred in hit dramas “My Mister” (2018) and “Hotel del Luna” (2019). She also released her new single “Celebrity” on Jan. 27, which swept the local charts.