봉준호 감독은 ‘옥자’를 촬영하며 일부 기간에 채식에 도전했지만 끝내 실패했다고 고백했다.　화요일 서울 팔판동의 한 카페에서 코리아헤럴드와 만난 그는 “남들의 시선이 없는 곳에서 여전히 닭고기 소고기 등을 먹고 있다”고 말했다. 이어 그는 “주변에 누가 없나를 잘 살펴본다(웃음)”고 농담했다. (사진/퍼스트룩)　‘옥자’는 비밀을 간직한 채 태어난 거대한 동물 옥자와 강원도 산골에서 함께 자란 소녀 미자의 이야기를 다룬 작품이다. 제70회 칸 국제영화제 경쟁부문 진출작으로 큰 관심을 모았다. 29일 세계 최대 콘텐츠 스트리밍 서비스 넷플릭스를 통해 공개되고 국내의 몇몇 극장에서도 개봉한다. 　(khnews@heraldcorp.com) 　　

Netflix released new images from the upcoming second season of its science-fiction drama series “Sense8,” starring Korean actress Bae Doona, on Monday.Bae will return as Sun Bak, the daughter of a powerful businessman in Seoul and a rising star in the underground kickboxing scene, in the series created by Lana and Lilly Wachowski -- the renowned makers of “The Matrix” series -- and J. Michael Straczynski. The images feature the show’s multinational ensemble in various scenes. Bae’s character is

Five North Korean fishermen rescued in the South earlier this week will be repatriated to their country, the unification ministry said Friday.The fishermen were found on Monday drifting in the East Sea on a boat that experienced serious engine problems. Rescued by South Korea's maritime police, they expressed their wish to return home. The ministry said that the North made a "verbal notification" later in the day that it will take all of them home through the truce village of Panmunjom at 11 a.m

New posters for the upcoming film “A Single Rider” starring Lee Byung-hun, Gong Hyo-jin and Ahn So-hee were revealed by its distributor Warner Bros. Korea on Sunday.　The new poster shows a teary-eyed Lee Byung-hun portraying Kang Jae-hoon, a bankrupt stock firm manager, who loses everything after investing in an insolvent bond. In the film, Kang leaves for Australia, where his wife, Soo-jin, played by Gong Hyo-jin, is preparing to move onto a new life. Unable to approach her, Kang disappears.　Th

K-pop quintet Spica has disbanded, its agency CJ E&M said Monday, after five years of on-and-off activities since their much-anticipated debut in 2012.“It is true that Spica’s members have agreed to go their own ways,” the entertainment company said in a statement. “Their contract period is not yet up, so we are in talks over how to wrap things up.”Promoted as “the younger sister group” to K-pop diva Lee Hyori, the group initially nabbed attention for its raw talents. All five members were power

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The video for K-pop boy group BTS’ hit single “Fire” has garnered more than 100 million views on YouTube.The video recorded 100,016,111 views as of 8 p.m. on Saturday, more than eight months after it was uploaded on the global free video sharing site last May, according to Big Hit Entertainment. “Fire” is the title track off “Epilogue: Young Forever,” the group’s first compilation album. The song’s video was No. 3 on YouTube’s 2016 list for the world’s most-viewed K-pop music v

MANILA, (AFP) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s office vowed on Sunday  there would be no cover-up or whitewash in the investigation into a South Korean’s murder by police.The kidnapping and killing of the businessmen has fuelled fears about widespread abuse by officers as they prosecute Duterte’s deadly anti-drug war.The businessman disappeared from his home in Angeles City north of Manila last October.Police from a special anti-drug unit abducted him under the guise of a raid on illega

   LONDON (AFP) -- The British government was accused on Sunday of covering up a failed test of its nuclear weapons deterrent last year, just weeks before lawmakers voted to renew the system.Prime Minister Theresa May refused to say whether she knew about the reported malfunction of an unarmed missile when she urged MPs to support updating the Trident nuclear system.The Sunday Times newspaper, citing a senior naval source, claimed that the Trident II D5 missile failed after being launched from a

More than two million people flooded the streets of Washington and other US cities and demonstrators around the world joined in as women opposed to Donald Trump led a peaceful, stunning rebuke against the new US president.As a sea of protesters brought downtown Washington to a standstill, streaming past the White House in pink “pussyhats,” Trump launched a withering attack on the media, accusing it of downplaying or even lying about the attendance at his swearing-in a day earlier.The new preside

Twenty-six is hardly an age fit to be called “a girl” but Girls’ Generation’s Seohyun has always been associated with youth, as the star was most widely-known for being the youngest member of the K-pop behemoth.“I’ve always shown myself (to the public) as the youngest among the Girls’ Generation. Now I wish to show what I can offer as a singer, and as a person,” she said in the showcase for “Don’t Say No,” her first album as a solo artist.The baby-faced singer has had more than her share of expe

K-pop group Big Bang held what could be its last concert for several years to come on Saturday and Sunday.A total of 64,000 fans flocked to the Gocheock Sky Dome in Seoul over two days, according to YG Entertainment, many from overseas, to witness the “0 To 10 Final in Seoul” concert. The show is the last installment of the 10-year-anniversary project Big Bang has been showcasing since last year.A gigantic pyramid lift has been installed onstage to offer dynamic stage settings.   Big Bang perfor

All lawyer Kim Eun-hye, 29, wanted was to be alone with a glass of wine after a draining day of consulting with clients, wading through legal paperwork, sitting through a tense office dinner and losing a case. Instead of heading home to an empty fridge, Kim decided to drop by Goya, a quiet bar near her house in Yeonnam-dong.“I guess I come here when I feel like having a nice drink, but don’t have the energy to engage in forced conversation with people who can’t offer good advice,” she said, orde

In the popular TV drama series “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God,” the male lead is, quite literally, a god. 　Based on the Korean folklore of dokkaebi, a higher spiritual being roughly translated as goblin, the drama series features actor Gong Yoo as Kim Shin, a warrior born centuries ago who, after being impaled with a sword, is transformed into an immortal dokkaebi with endless wealth. Korean dramas have notoriously favored near-perfect male leads -- attractive, intelligent, heirs to vast fo

NEW YORK (AP) -- There’s been a run on Carrie Fisher’s books since the “Star Wars” actress and humorist died Tuesday.Fisher’s book, “The Princess Diarist,” was on top of Amazon’s list of best-selling books on Wednesday, just ahead of “Zero Sugar Diet.”“Wishful Drinking” and “Postcards From the Edge” were also in Amazon’s top 10, with “Shockaholic” ranked No. 57.Five of the top 10 books on Amazon’s “Movers and Shakers” list, which measures titles that show the greatest upward movement in sales ov

Has any pop album ever changed shape as quickly — and as thoroughly — as David Bowie’s “Blackstar”?On Jan. 8, the day it was released, Bowie’s collaboration with a group of adventurous New York jazz players represented a creative rebirth for this cultural icon. Two days later, Bowie died at age 69, and suddenly “Blackstar” became a document of finality, never to be heard again without being shadowed by his death.The speed and fullness of that transformation was extreme. But as we soon found out,

Sandra Huller does the subtlest, loveliest double take you’ve ever seen. More a quick dart of the eyes, really, followed by a tensing of the shoulders, before her expression hardens and her mind leaps into damage-control mode.It’s a gift that this brilliant German actress keeps giving in “Toni Erdmann,” in which she stars as Ines Conradi, a tightly wound corporate consultant who has become so skilled at managing her clients’ moods and demands that she knows just how to react — or not react — whe

PARIS, (AFP) - Makoto Shinkai has a problem, a big problem. His mystical teenage body-swap movie “Your Name” has become such a massive hit it’s beginning to worry him.“It’s not healthy,” the boyish director told AFP. “I don’t think any more people should see it.”Every week it gets closer to being the biggest Japanese animated film of all time.And now there’s talk of Oscars. “I really hope it doesn’t win,” he added.It would be funny if Shinkai wasn’t so in earnest about getting off the promotiona

BUDAPEST, (AFP) -- Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Hugh Jackman. Spotting hunky Hollywood actors is no big deal any more in Budapest, now one of Europe’s top hubs for foreign film productions thanks to attractive tax breaks and cutting-edge facilities.Some of the biggest US blockbusters in recent years were filmed here, including 2015 action comedy “Spy” with Jude Law and 2016 mystery thriller “Inferno” featuring Tom Hanks.The 60-year-old star of the sequel to Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” spent seve

Seoul’s royal palaces enjoyed an unprecedented rise in popularity this year, the Cultural Heritage Administration said.A record number of 10.1 million visitors tread past the gates of Seoul’s four major palaces -– Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Deoksugung -– as of November, according to CHA, a government agency charged with preserving and promoting Korean cultural heritage. Nighttime strolls in Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung were popular, the statistics showed. A total of 532

“For a very long time, she had heard stories about stupid women. She was warned more often against stupid women than against dangerous men,” reads an excerpt from “Good Person” (unofficial translation), a novel released last month by Korean writer Kang Hwa-gil.The book draws on the small inconveniences and anxieties that a woman faces in everyday life, and the striving to become a “good,” well-reputed and likeable person. Like the novel, “Misbehavior,” the latest drama film by emerging director