Lee Byung Hun is currently negotiating his role in the remake of the 1960 western film "The Magnificent Seven" which is a remake of the Japanese language film "Seven Samurai." The original film starred among others Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach and Steve McQueen. The new version will feature Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt, Luke Grime, Wagner Moura, Jason Momoa and Vincent D'Onofrio.
In the original film, the "magnificent seven" are seven gunfighters hired by a woman to protect a small Mexican village from roving bandits. But the update is said to feature a slightly different angle with the threat coming from mercenaries hired by a gold baron.
In the remake Denzel Washington will play a bounty hunger with a heart. Chris Pratt is a magician-turned-gambler. Ethan Hawke plays a war deserter. Vincent D'Onofrio is a mountain man. Lee will play a character called Billy Rocks. He's a former indentured servant who has skills with a martial arts weapon known as a sai. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? Is he one of the magnificent seven? Details are few and far between. Even his agency, BH Entertainment, has only confirmed the name of his character.
Either way Lee Byung Hun's list of American film credits continues to grow. Lee Byung Hun has returned to Korea between Hollywood films and starred in k-movies such as "Memories of the Sword" and "The Insiders," but for the last two years he has spent more of his time working on Hollywood big budget productions. He starred in the Hollywood action blockbusters "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and "Red 2" and played the latest incarnation of the Terminator in the upcoming sci-fi classic sequel "Terminator Genysis." He also recently finished filming the legal thriller "Beyond Deceit" with Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino and Josh Duhamel.
And it won't be Lee's first western as he previously played Park Chang Yi, the Bad in the 2008 k-movie "The Good, The Bad, The Weird."
The actor also recently appeared in a "Rush Hour 4: Face Off" Funny or Die parody with Sean "Diddy" Combs.
Haley Bennett of "The Equalizer" is the only actress to have a significant role in the film. She plays the woman who hires the seven gunfighters.
Roger Birnbaum and Todd Black are producing the remake with Walter Mirisch and Antoine Fuqua serving as executive producers. The remake will be released through MGM and Sony Pictures and is scheduled for a January 2016 release in the U.S.
