Among the bigger premieres announced for this year’s Venice Film Festival is Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice (Neon will handle the U.S. release) and ahead of which comes a brief, staccato teaser that hints at Donald E. Westlake’s source material The Ax. Adapting the 1997 novel (which Costa-Gavras first filmed in 2005) the black comedy thriller follows a man laid off from the paper company he worked at for 25 years. Some time later and still jobless, he hits on a solution: to genuinely eliminate his competition. Adapted by Park, Lee Kyung-mi (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, The Truth Beneath), Don McKellar (The Sympathizer), and Lee Ja-hye (Decision to Leave, The Handmaiden), it features Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won, and Yoo Yeon-seok.
“I think it’s been about 17 years since I started writing the script for this movie. I’m so touched that I’ve finally finished filming the work that I’ve wanted to make for a long time,” Park told Korean media outlets. “I’ll work hard on the post-production to make a movie that everyone who participated in can feel a sense of accomplishment.”
Find preview and poster below:
