‘Okja’ begins shooting in Seoul, Steven Yeun joins cast

Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s upcoming monster-fantasy flick began shooting in Seoul last Friday, according to Netflix Korea, while another actor member -- Korean-American Steven Yeun -- has joined the film’s eclectic cast, reports say.

The film, set to be released by Netflix in 2017, is the most recent project of director Bong, whose previous feature “Snowpiercer” achieved worldwide critical acclaim.

“I wanted to tell a story about the beautiful friendship between humans and animals and the fear that exists there,” Bong said on “Okja.”

The film follows the story of a young girl, Mija, played by the 12-year-old Korean actress Ahn Seo-hyun, who fights to save her friend Okja, a genetically manufactured pig from being kidnapped by multinational companies.

Tilda Swinton will play the head of the corporation and her twin sister, while Paul Dano will star as an animal activist seeking to expose the corporation’s secret project to produce genetically modified animals. 

“Okja” will shoot in South Korea, Canada and the U.S. in both English and Korean. It is being produced by Plan B, a production company founded in 2001 by actor Brad Pitt.

Korean-American actor Steven Yeun, who rose to fame in the U.S. through the zombie series “The Walking Dead,” is reportedly the latest actor to join in the film’s cast, which includes Hollywood’s Jake Gyllenhaal, Lily Collins, Kelly Macdonald, Bill Nighy, Devon Bostick, Shirley Henderson and Daniel Henshall and Korean actors Byun Hee-bong, Yoon Je-moon and Choi Woo-shik.

Bong’s previous works include “Memories of Murder” (2003) and “Mother” (2009).

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)