One of the best actors in Korea, Park Joong-Hoon has played a variety of characters from a greedy cop in Two Cops, a weak husband who tries to kill his cruel wife in How to Kill My Wife, a overnight millionaire in Take the Money and Run, a crook who turns into a pastor in Hallelujah and a dirty cop in Nowhere to Hide. And he was recently invited by director Jonathon Demme-Silence of the Lambs-to act in the Hollywood film The Truth About Charlie.

"If you want to die, then let me see you kill ten enemies with my own eyes first."

Now Park is back to acting in Korea as Kye-Baek. Kye-Baek was obstinate, upright and true and loyal to the king and kingdom. Although he was not as good at strategizing and the tactics of war as Kim Yu-Sin, he knew how to motivate is army into battle.

His credits include:

For the last 5 years, Lee Joon-Ik has been involved in the planning, production and directing of Once upon a time in a battlefield... . Since his directing debut of Kid Cop, 1993, he has been involved with a variety of film-related work, such as film marketing, production, importing and distributing. The film industry has been undergoing change and so it is beneficial for a director to have a keen sense of the film market. Lee Joon-Ik brings not only his accumulated knowledge of production, but his ambition as a director to Once upon a time in a battlefield... .

There was much consideration involved in how to depict something of such a serious nature and importance to Korean history and make it fun for the silver screen audience. There are many historical dramas on TV but by comparison few movies have been made on the subject. Once upon a time in a battlefield... looks back at a very serious time in Korean history but interprets those events for the audience in a more casual and fun, although very realistic and true-to-detail way.

Once upon a time in a battlefield... makes use of laughter, not the dry facts of history books, to portray history. We firmly believe that the best method of dealing with a serious theme is through the fun of satire. One of the ways Once upon a time in a battlefield... effectively inserts humor into the serious situations in this film is through the use different dialects. Every nation produces comedy through the observance of colloquialisms, intonations and inflexions of the different dialects of that country. For Koreans, the assumption alone that the Baekche and Shilla dynasties might have spoken very different dialects is enough to challenge our ideas of history, which have been related to us through our standard dialect. Once upon a time.. 's use of humor is a non-intrusive way to make us question the truth of our history.

2000 extras, 300 tons of mud, 50 tons of water, and $500,000; the grand scale of the Hwangsanbul battle scene makes for greater viewer entertainment.

Once upon a time in a battlefield... is very distinct from other Korean comedy films in its scale and size. A completely new set, costing nearly $1,000,000, was built exclusively for the filming of Once upon a time in a battlefield.... This sets Once upon a time in a battlefield... apart from most other films, which make use of existing sets. There have only been a few other movies of this scale in Korean film making history, putting Once upon a time in a battlefield... in the same class of films as J.S.A.

The climax of this film is the battle scene. This scene alone used 2000 extras and actors and was shot over a period of ten days. The filming of this scene was so grueling that less than 10% of the actors worked back-to-back days. Most of the actors who work as extras in Korea were employed for this scene one way or another. In order to make mud for the final battle, 300 tons of mud 30 tons of water were used and an additional 20 tons of water was used for rain. This scene alone cost more than $500,000.

THE SET IN BUYEO

This set is located on the Official Site for the Cultural Revival of Baekche. The area of the set covers over 17 acres and contains 45 battle tents and several wooden barricades 6 to 15 meters high and 180 meters long.

Among the many candidate sites for the Hwangsanbul set, Buyeo was selected because of its geographical features which resembled the original Hwangsanbul site that today is not suitable for filming. It has the mountains, which stood as a natural defense against the advancing Shilla army and nearby is the famous cliff where, according to legend, 3000 palace girls committed suicide by jumping after the king of Baekche surrendered.

The area was farmland that had brick paths meandering through it, so there was a great amount of preparatory work to be done before the constructing of the set could actually begin. 50 landscapers worked for several weeks clearing the area and making a drainage system that would serve to divert the monsoon rains from the area.

1. Production Cost: 800,000 U.S. dollars
2. Period: 3 months, March to May 2003
3. Materials: 20,000 trees were planted, including pines, bamboo, and even imported trees from Australia