Shi-Myung Lee - Dreaming of George Lucas
Born in Seoul in 1970
Graduated from Hanyang University with a major in Theater and Cinema.

The Calling Card of a New Age Director
"I want to understand film as a medium that breathes with the public rather than divide it into art and commercial success... I chose to direct <2009 Lost Memories> not because of the huge scale of production but because it is a movie containing 'humanistic' 'Conflict' forms the main tension and will be the central element that propels the plot forward. The axis for the 'conflict' in <2009 Lost Memories> is the confirmation of the identity of the main characters in the face of friendship. I want to portray people and the doubts and conflicts about identity that lie between them."

2000, winter, Shi-Myung Lee
Director Shi-Myung Lee worked as assistant director in (94) and (96) for 'Cinema Service' the biggest name in the Choongmuro film circuit. He started making a name for himself by winning the Special Award at the 7th Original Korean Short Film Festival for his 16mm short film in college and (91, Award for Best Film at the 2nd Shin Young Youth Visual Art Festival). He is one of the few emerging directors that Choongmuru is keeping its eyes on.

He now makes his debut as a feature film director by both writing the script and producing <2009 Lost Memories>. Despite his youthful age, he overtook the site with his heated passion and his charisma and went on to oversee the making of <2009 Lost Memories> from beginning to end with his persistence and confidence. In 2002, a newly emerging and outstanding director who admires challenge and adventure that will determine the form of Korean films in the future throws us his calling card.

"20,000 rounds, that is where the secret lies." The greatest amount of action in Korean film history.
The core of the action in <2009 Lost Memories> lies in action scenes that conjure up the exhilaration of the shootout scenes in and the magnificence of combined. The 'quelling the Hureisenjin in the Ito Hall' at the beginning of the movie where a 3 hundred million won set was blown away, the car chase that takes place between the Hureisenjin and the JBI shot on the incomplete road between Choongbuk and Umsung, and 'The raid on the Hureisenjin basement hideout' produced with its ruthless 'killing' concept. In order to produce such scenes, 20,000 rounds were fired from approximately 50 pieces of 25 different firearms including Glock 17s, the MP5 series, huge trench mortars and special bullets called D602s used in . All the firearms were imported from the Gibson company in the U.S. and is the largest single shipment in Korean history. 250 million won worth of imported cars such as Nissan Skylines and Nissan Sports Coupes were used for the car chase and explosions.

These were all sets. The largest sets in the history of Korean film.
The sets for <2009 Lost Memories> were a hot issue even before filming began. The 'lto Hall'set built on the 35583 square feet Yangsoori studio grounds especially set the record as the largest indoor set in the history of Korean film. The Japanese Bureau of Investigation where Dong-Gun Chang works and the storage area a of huge ship were both built within the same indoor set. 'The basement hideout of the Hureisenjin' with its underground maze-like structure was built in a paint factory in Sooseck and was built so realistically that it brought out exclamations of disbelief. A total of six sets were built with 2 billion won and 40% of the film was shot on these sets.

The dream team consisting of players ranging from Korea's greatest star Dong-Gun Chang to the world famous Imamura Shohei!
Finding actors to play the characters in an epic story covering Korea, Japan, and China in a future setting was no easy task. The role of Sakamoto, who comes out in the script as a Korean-Japanese character, was modeled after Dong-Gun Chang since the first draft of the script was completed. The problem was the Japanese actor who would play opposite him. Profiles were sent from a noted management firm in Japan for six months, and the role went to Nakamura Touru who has extensive experience internationally. Surprisingly, of all the supporting roles that would enhance the film, a role went to Director Imamura Shoheii. He was the mentor for the staff who were managing the production camp for <2009 Lost Memories> and has always shown great interest in the Korean-Japanese relationship. He stated his reason for making his second appearance in a movie as having been overwhelmingly impressed with the passion he felt on the shooting site. From Dong-Gun Chang, the greatest star in Korea to Imamura Shohei, the world-renowned director. Young and eager creators meet a grey-haired master in a piece of work where actors from three different countries worked together feverishly under a language barrier to breathe strong life into <2009 Lost Memories>.

Shot on the road in locations in Korea, Japan, and China!
The shooting locations for <2009 Lost Memories> included Seoul, Busan, Gangwon-do, Choonchung-do, and even Japan and China. In Korea, 100 meters of buildings and streets in Nampo-dong, Busan were transformed into Japanese alleys, a paint factory in Sooseck covering over 177915 square feet was turned into a set, and filming also took place on the road between Choongbuk and Umsung, which is still under construction, and in Jangsoodae, Gangwon-do. Overseas locations included Camp 1 in Sunshine City and the Marunouchi building district of Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Shooting also took place at the Iyase Tokyo Tojo, the greatest tojo in Tokyo, and at Dae-Ryoon Temple. Changchun, China was selected as Camp 2 and the climax of the film, which was also the ending, was shot here. The shooting of <2009 Lost Memories> was always on the move, going between massive sets and diverse locations daily without any breaks.

The 'spectacular original score' for' <2009 Lost Memories>
A movie contains various kinds of music. Some enhance the effects while some music' is needed as props for a scene. Such scenes can also be found in <2009 Lost Memories>. However, the problem was that the film is set in the future, in a gloomy Seoul that has become part of Japan. Accordingly, Dong-Jun Lee who composed the score made use of instruments from Korea, China, and Japan to create an exotic atmosphere in music ranging from hardcore techno to a grand orchestral piece that communicates the spectacular scenes of the film and produced an original score of unprecedented scale in Korean film. Music was added to more than 80% of the whole film with a 13-minute requiem in latin being the highlight. This piece covered the entire scene where the basement hideout of the Hureisenjin is raided and will work to reach a climax with its rendition of the ruthlessness and courage shown in this battle scene.

Gun in one hand, a Japanese tape in one ear!
The actors appearing in <2009 Lost Memories> had to overcome two big obstacles. One was to study Japanese since 70% of the lines were in Japanese, and the other was to work out in preparation for the tough action scenes. Dong-Gun Chang, who had the most lines in Japanese, watched videos made by voice actors in Japan. When this didn't seem to be enough, he got his costar Nakamura Toru to read Chang's lines on tape and carried it around with him on location and at home to try and speak with a similar intonation and pronunciation as the local Japanese people. For about 10 days beginning from January 15, a martial arts training camp was held in Gangwhado. In piercing winds and temperatures dropping to levels that had not been recorded in 70 years, the 30 or so stars and supporting actors participated in the military training with Kwang-Soo Kim, who oversaw the whole project, barring even Director Shi-Myung Lee from the camp and carrying out undisclosed rigorous training. Even after completing the official training session, actors spent every spare minute at the shooting range and continued with their training. When we caught up with Dong-Gun Chang on location, he had a toy gun in one hand and an earphone plugged into the tape of his Japanese lines in one ear.

The 20th century, the birth and early demise of Korean blockbusters. The Korean film market underwent countless changes and trials during the last century. The most encouraging event was the appearance of the so-called 'Korean Blockbuster' heralded by in 1998. Following the heated hype of in 1999 came numerous types of 'blockbusters'. However, under the packaging was found only 'the Korean Blockbuster' with its shallow commercialism.

In 2000, , 'The first Korean fire blockbuster', , which started a retro wave, and

were filled with a tremendous amount of visual effects yet failed to produce the basic spectacles of an epic. They were all overly compromising and went nowhere near reproducing the spirit of an action blockbuster where 'you get your money's worth' since .

In 2001, the Korean film scene was overrun with organized crime movies and the legend of the 'Blockbuster' as the cream of the crop of capital based films was wiped clean off the slate. It was almost as if the Korean film industry had given up on the war against quantity.

However, in the year 2002, the war is far from over.

<2009 Lost Memories> reflects on the trail of 'The Korean Blockbuster' and returns to basics to promise a new leap forward.

In 2001, reaching the 50% mark in the Korean film market was achieved by relying on shallow cultural trends ranging from and to the latest , , and ...

It is true that the concern that laughter was the only way to go to satisfy the tastes of the younger generation's admiration for organized crime and the demands of the general public for light and funny topics is intensifying due to the comparatively weak front put up by large-scale movies costing over 5 billion. , with its massive amount of content, was ignored by the audiences while failed to live up to expectations and closed quietly. In addition, , with all its computer graphics of a 'techno martial arts school' and wire action did not last very long because of its weak plot.

The success of a great piece of work is determined by how many people watch it and not by how much it contains. <2009 Lost Memories> appeals to the audience with the sensitive issue of Seoul being absorbed into Japan. Furthermore, action with firearms that goes off like fireworks will add flare to it.

<2009 Lost Memories> lays its foundation in the national spirit that appeals to the Korean public like and . This is also the first time that a Korean movie deals with the future in a world of imagination where the Korean peninsula has been reorganized and will become an 'adventurous' challenge.

All these diverse characteristics that <2009 Lost Memories> possesses will ultimately provide visual proof of the development of Korean film.

<2009 Lost Memories> combines the most ingenious transformation of the most sensitive subject matter with action, the most popular genre of the masses, and will present the real image of a successful blockbuster.