South Korean director Hong Won-ki reported to drop a BLACKPINK documentary-inspired K-pop thriller film, UNNIE

Renowned South Korean director Hong Won-ki will reportedly film a thriller movie called UNNIE, inspired by the K-pop girl group BLACKPINK.

The film, as per an exclusive Deadline report on July 26, 2024, is set in the cutthroat world of K-pop and will showcase the brutality of the K-pop group Black Swan as they live through their career as idols. More specifically, the movie will unravel the narrative of Black Swan, whose debut falls under threat following a series of violent attacks.

UNNIE is based on Lynn Q. Yu's 2023 Black List script. The Black List is an event where Hollywood's favorite yet unproduced scripts are revealed. According to Deadline, the casting for the film is underway, and the filming will take place in Seoul and Los Angeles. The production is expected to begin in January of 2025.

In addition to Hong Won-ki's direction, several other renowned crew members will be working on the movie. Badlands’ Scott Strauss, Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, Desert Bloom’s Jennice Lee, and Renegade Capital’s Andrew Schwartzberg and Jon Shiffman will reportedly produce UNNIE.

Furthermore, K-pop artists Sunshine and Moonshine are set to create the movie's OST (Original Sound Track).

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All we know so far about the BLACKPINK-inspired thriller film UNNIE

Lynn Q. Yu, the scriptwriter of UNNIE, during his time at the 2023 Black List, explained that the four-piece K-pop girl group BLACKPINK's documentary inspired the script.

“Thrilled to have “#UNNIE”, my K-pop thriller script, out to town this week. It’s been 18 months since I first watched the BLACKPINK documentary and came up with the initial conception for this script. I didn’t so much as fall down the K-pop rabbit hole as I actively plunged into the abyss," he said.

"It’s also been a minute since I’ve had one of my scripts circulating the town - I’m so hyped about this one, that I even hired an artist to design this sick cover for it. Keep your fingers crossed that the industry loves it as much as I do," he added.

The upcoming film, UNNIE, will be created through Zanybros, a South Korean video production company founded in 2002 by director Hong Won-ki and videographer Kim Jun-hong. It is known for its specialization in music videos and commercial film production. Zanybros is also one of the most influential music video companies in the Korean scene.

The two members of Zanybros have shot over 1500 music videos for artists like Red Velvet, BTS, TWICE, etc., which largely contributed to the Korean wave and added to K-pop's current stance as a global phenomenon. One of the movie's producers, Badlands’ Scott Strauss, dished out the reason behind his choice of Zanybros over other companies for the movie.

“After meeting the Zanybros in Korea, it became clear they are uniquely plugged into the K-pop world and will deliver on the authenticity its fans demand. Director Hong’s eye-popping videos and passion for genre make him the only choice for our film,” Strauss said as reported by Deadline.

Badlands is a new genre label created through a partnership between Thunder Road (John Wick) and Screen Gems executive Scott Strauss.

On the other hand, Hong Won-ki is known for his several works that have not only revolved around the K-pop industry but also involved former and current K-pop stars. The director is specifically famous for his works, such as Connecting, Urban Myths, Netflix’s Goedam, and other horror movies that run around the concepts of Korean legends.

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With quite a promising list of producers, directors, and other crew members for making the BLACKPINK-inspired thriller movie UNNIE, fans are quite excited to see what the movie has in store for them.