News of a Korean remake of Malayalam director Jeethu Joseph's Mohanlal-starrer Drishyam has been doing the rounds for a while — in addition to an English-language remake — ever since it was announced at the 2023 edition of Cannes.
The as-yet-untitled film, which is backed by Korea-based production house Anthology Studios in association with Panorama Studios (India), has begun to see some momentum with the announcement of the director. According to a report in Variety, it will be helmed by Deok Roh (also Deok Noh), with production set to commence next year.
Memories of Murder and Parasite actor Song Kang-ho is one of the producers associated with Anthology Studios, aside from Korean director Kim Jee-woon ("I Saw the Devil", "A Bittersweet Life"), and production executive Choi Jae-won.
While earlier reports said Kang-ho would be playing the Korean version of the protagonist of Georgekutty, the character played by Mohanlal in the original, there has been no confirmation on the same.
Interestingly, Deok Roh made her directorial debut in the same year as the first Drishyam. Her first film was a rom-com called Very Ordinary Couple, which she based on her own love story and partly influenced by some of her friends as well. She then made the darkly comic thriller The Exclusive: Beat the Devil's Tattoo in 2015. This was followed by SF8, a science fiction anthology series that has been compared to Black Mirror.
Notably, her third feature Hidden Face, was a remake of the Spanish film The Hidden Face. Roh returned to episodic storytelling in the sci-fi genre in Glitch (2022). Her latest release is a coming-of-age romantic drama series Way Back Love, released this year.
Drishyam was previously remade in Chinese in 2019 under the title Sheep Without a Shepherd, directed by Sam Quah. It was reportedly the 9th highest-grossing Chinese film that year.
Meanwhile, Jeethu Joseph's latest feature Mirage released in Indian theatres on Friday. He recently announced a third entry in the Drishyam series, with Mohanlal set to reprise his character from the first two films. The second film, which was released directly to streaming due to Covid-19 restrictions, was an instant success, with some fans wishing for a re-release in theatres.