Lee Byung Hun Wows Cast On GI Joe Retaliation Set

Lee Byung Hun Wows Cast On GI Joe Retaliation Set - GI Joe News

Lee Byung Hun Storm Shadow

i can't wait to see more footage form this movie

He was one of the few bright gems and good casting calls of the first film. I'm glad to know he's back and looking kick ass.

He was one of the best aspects, in reference to actors, in the movie, minus the uninspiring costume. Good job Lee Byung Hun.

This actually surprises me. Maybe I just don't get why they wouldn't already be impressed with him. It's not like they haven't seen him before.

"he did not receive the respect or recognition that he was worthy of due to his ethnicity."

Am I the only one who sees a problem with this? Especially since the director is also of Asian origin.

Why should he have to work harder than everyone else to earn the same level of respect as everyone else? It's shameful, and arrogant of the crew if this is the case.

He's a pretty big star in Korea I think... he was great in Iris... lots of onscreen charisma... I believe the word I'm looking for is... Duh. LOL.

He was the one thing next to Ray Park the first movie did right.

It was probably referring to Stormy being Japanese American and Lee Byung Hun being Korean, but it doesn't matter because he's a great actor and a great martial artist. I am glad that both he and Ray Park are back (Ray was born to play Snake Eyes). I am only sad that Rachel Nichols is not returning as Scarlett. The 3 of them along with JGL (Joseph Gordon Levitt) were the best parts of ROC.

I liked Scarlett, but hated their take on CC. Levitt *should* have been Dr. Mindbender. That would have made much more sense.

But I still don't get why LBH would need to work to impress any of the crew. They should have already known.

I've read that a few times now, and it actually does sound like the crew was expecting less from him because he is Korean (or just foreign), and were surprised at how good an actor he was. Which is idiotic. I'm as jingoistic as anyone, but actors are actors, and great actors are great no matter where the movie is being released. Ken Watanabe's accent is really hard to parse out in Inception, but he's still incredible.

This makes absolutely no sense, lame. Lee Byung Hun is a great actor and is one of the few good "comic" movie castings. He plays Storm Shadow perfectly, and was one of the few good things about ROC.

The Joe films are his big exposure to Western audiences but he's been a star for a while now.

Check out IRIS to see him playing the lead in a Action-Romantic-Spy-Drama.

IRIS - Full Episodes and Clips streaming online - Hulu

He didn't get respect because of his ethnicity but proved his doubters wrong and earned their respect. See Marlon Wayans, if it you didn't completely suck you could have done the same!

Meh

Exactly what I was thinking... this is a really odd story. Makes them sound like a bunch of racists.

Watch him in "I Saw The Devil". He was underused in ROC in comparison. Maybe the crew was just going off of his performance in ROC instead of his other works.

uuuh, well no.
Most of the old cast is not in this movie, except Ray Park (Taters doesn't gets too much screen action, he's on the movie just to tie in).
Besides, SS didn't had that much action on the first, not martial arts-wise.

If i recall correctly, LBH wasn't a martial arts experts neither, and he learned specifically for these movies. I guess he kept practicing and got better, and coreographers now are more impressed.

I think this is more what they meant.
He's well known in Korea, but never heard on US.
Being a foreign actor, he most likely got some "oh-look the-asian-guy that plays the ninja".
Not really racism, but common issues among actors (there are some big names...and big egos to follow).

I think that Lee Byung Hun has potential to be the next Jet Li.
He's praised as a good actor, learned martial arts, has good looks, and there's an empty slot for the asian martial arts actor (considering Jackie Chan and Jet Li are close to retirement)

man why would they not think he would be good he played storm shadow awesome. sounds like the crew are being jerks thats not right what im thinking is he maybe carrying the film if so that rocks because he can act so maybe they didnt think he would hold up as a main player in this movie but i am hyping for this movie......

something to have in mind...this might be Jung's impression, let's not judge the rest of the cast *shrug*

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If that statement is true then that is sad that people still look at someone's race and judge their ability to do something because of it. How naive and arrogant.

Go Stormy! Get the recognition you deserve! I am only looking forward to see the movie because Storm Shadow gets more attention!!!

I Saw The Devil was an AWESOME movie. REALLY liked it.

While I really did like Lee Byung Hun in the movie, I think Ian Anthony Dale might have made a really good Storm Shadow, especially after seeing him play Scorpion in the MK Legacy series.

Sounds like they're creating drama and "obstacles" for him, just so he can rise to the challenge and blow everyone away with his talent. In other words, this is his publicist amping his client. Creating the idea that he's so talented that he can even overcome racism and bigotry probably plays well to certain minorities.

I highly doubt the crew was giving him a hard time and being prejudice. That's not to say that he's not talented and didn't put in a great performance. I'm sure he did impress people on the set with his abilities. It doesn't mean they were racially prejudiced against him.

Have you forgotten all about Donnie Yen? He hasn't exactly fizzled out yet.

Forgot about him, he's a beast!

But honestly, i dunno how well know he is on non-asian movies.
I know him from a lot of movies, because we have a lot of exposition to asian cinematography (sp?).
But if i'm correct, he's around Jet Li's age or slightly older...too late to start a career as the new Jackie.

And let's be honest, he's not too good of an actor. I like his movies, and admire his skills, but not too expresive (at least for occidental public).

LBH on the other hand hasn't reached his 30ties yet, he is more of an actor (his movies are not just action flics) and he looks better.

Sorry Donnie! You're still a god of martial arts movies!
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Actually Lee Byung Hun is 41.....mainly known for drama films and some action, but mostly drama.

3 Extremes showed that he could play someone living a lie to hide the truth. I Saw The Devil proved he could definitely play someone hellbent on revenge but with a moral crisis eventually. NEITHER of those traits were shown in ROC.

So I'm hoping that what's been said earlier(that he'll have a more pivotal/stronger role) in Retaliation prove true. He has a lot of range which could be utilized. Definitely one of the most underused actors in ROC.

I totally agree on Rachel Nichols but Gordon-Levitt didn't have any great moments in the first movie and would be overpriced playing Cobra Commander considering that he'd always be covered up anyway.

defies?!
clearly these people have not seen "I SAW THE DEVIL"

Ha..we American's...sooo closed minded.

I don't believe this article. I don't think anyone would doubt him..probably a poor translation.

Donnie isn't any worse of an actor than Jet Li or Jackie Chan. Regardless of age, Donnie looks and moves like a young person.

Really??? O_o

I'll have to ask him his recipe in a couple years lol

Yeah, that gives him more versatility.
Today, an actor can become a martial artist for a movie.
But a martial artist rarely becomes a good actor.

Tony Jaa for example, is fu**ing awesome. But her first movies he wasn't too much of an actor honestly. He improved a lot tho.

He didn't had acting time at all.
We saw him throwing two shurikens, and run thru a building, then fight and die. Not much chance to make a decent acting.
Considering the ninja aspect of GJ2, let's hope to see some more scenes.

That's what I was thinking, because when he was cast for ROC I was wondering why they got a korean guy (who looks very korean) to play a half japanese guy. But I liked him in A Bittersweet Life so I had respect for him as an action star. I guess he really made it okay for Roadblock to be Samoan.

Black Samoan.

I don't buy that they weren't impressed because of his ethnicity. I think it has more to do with hollywood types not knowing there is talent outside of LA. He's a very good actor in South Korea but unless you're watching South Korean produced films regularly, you're not going to know who he is.

Good point, and even his movies which have been localized here, didn't get much promotion. Unless someone was watching trailers by the localization company or knew about LBH, they wouldn't know about his movies here.

Thats exactly what I was going to post! Good Call!

This is a translation thing.

It sounds very much to me like Asian propaganda when you read it. It's just in the way the thing got quoted. I'm fairly sure they all respected and was well aware of his skills before movie number 2.
And the "wows" and "aaahs" is such an Asian cliche to write how they enjoyed his performance.
I am pretty sure that his role will be one of the better ones in the movie, both acting and physically with the action. His work in IRIS was awesome if you can get over the Korean Drama aspect of it.

I saw the devil.
Ho- lee- shit
That movie is intense, and very well made. Now I can't accept Byung-hun Lee in such a silly role as SS in a GI Joe movie. But really, wow. I'm like....... damn. I literally got done watching it about 1 minute ago, and I came here just to post my thoughts, and I can't even wrap my head around it.

EDIT: Seriously.... I think I'm going to laugh out loud when SS's first scene comes up in the new movie. I'll be thinking, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THIS MOVIE, LEE!?"

He was so underused in ROC in comparison. Heh, he was more Storm Shadow in I Saw The Devil than he ever was in ROC. Revenge defines Storm Shadow, and I Saw The Devil was all revenge, all awesome.

It's not at all odd. He came from Korea, he speaks with an accent, the crew and cast didnt' give him his due.

It's a pretty standard story, Asians are discriminated against in Hollywood and have been since the 1920s. A lot of Asian actors, comedians etc have talked about it.

People go to audition for movies and get rejected for not acting "Asian enough" or not playing a chop socky accent.

If they were really racist they wouldn't have ever given him his due. They were just ignorant and/or prejudiced, but they were able to overcome that.

Keep in mind that obviously not everyone would have been biased. For example director John Chu expanded Lee's role and gave him a bigger opportunity in the sequel. But this is what a professional stunt coordinator felt on set. His opinion is probably more valid than a half dozen negative nannies on the Internet who really don't know about it and probably never thought about discrimination like that even existing.