'Oldboy' Helmer Park Chan-Wook To Direct Gangster Flick 'Corsica 72'

It seems like Park Chan-Wook is getting on very well with Hollywood. The Korean filmmaker was one of the most impressive breakouts of world cinema in the 2000s, thanks to "Joint Security Area" and his "Vengeance Trilogy," made up of "Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance," the currently-being-remade "Oldboy" and "Lady Vengeance." But he's spent the last year or so making his English-language debut with Southern gothic tale "Stoker," starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode, while also co-writing sci-fi "Snow Piercer" with compatriot Bong Joon-Ho, who's just directed the film with an international cast including Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer and Tilda Swinton.

And the filmmaker doesn't seem to have any signs of heading home. Only a few weeks ago, he came on board the long-gestating Black List western "The Brigands Of Rattleborge," and now he's lined up another English-language project that's been percolating for a while, as Variety report that he's now attached to "Corsica 72," a period crime drama written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, best known for their work on every Bond film from 1999's "The World Is Not Enough" to this year's "Skyfall."

The film's been doing the rounds for a while -- it made the Black List and the Brit List in 2009, and both "Downfall" director Oliver Hirschbiegel and "I Am Love" helmer Luca Guadagnino were linked with the project for a while, and Gemma Arterton was mentioned in connection with the film in the latter incarnation. The film is a love triangle set on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, with two childhood friends, Marco -- who's involved with organized crime -- and Sauveur -- who's chosen an honest life -- and their mutual love interest Lucia. Park's attachment to the project -- which is set up at Ruby Films ("Tamara Drewe") and 1984 Private Defense Contractors ("Killing Them Softly") has seen it become a hot property among agencies, who hope to get their younger clients involved.

Supposedly, the film will roll before "The Brigands Of Rattleborge," which needs a major star involved. Clearly, though, it suggests that "Stoker" is brewing a certain amount of confidence among financiers, and we're certainly interested to see what Park can bring to a period European crime picture like this one. There's no start date yet, but it sounds like the intention is to film in 2013, while we'll be able to see how the director's English languaged debut works out when Fox Searchlight release the film on March 1st, 2013.