Latest news with #ByronMann
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Byron Mann on Breaking Into Korean Cinema With ‘Big Deal' and Bridging East-West Storytelling: ‘The World Is Bigger Than Just America'
Byron Mann's debut in Korean cinema has proven that cross-cultural casting can pay off at the box office. The actor's new film 'Big Deal' opened at No. 3 in South Korea, landing just behind 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' in a competitive marketplace. More from Variety TIFFCOM: Byron Mann's 'Dark Asset' Heads to Market (EXCLUSIVE) Byron Mann, Eugenia Yuan Add Flavor to 'Jasmine' Mann, Peng and Angelababy Join 'Legend' For Mann, whose credits span from Adam McKay's 'The Big Short' to Netflix's 'Altered Carbon' and productions across Asia including the Hong Kong-set romantic comedy 'The Modelizer,' the Korean film marked a unique experience that required him to completely overhaul his character's dialogue while navigating an unfamiliar production system. 'When they reached out to me, I actually thought they made a mistake,' Mann tells Variety. 'I thought, 'You know they know I don't speak Korean, right? I mean, they know I'm not Korean either, right?'' The confusion cleared up once Mann and his manager read the script. His character in 'Big Deal' is an investment banker from New York and Hong Kong in a story loosely based on real events involving one of Korea's biggest soju companies in 2003. The director had seen Mann's work in 'The Big Short' and felt he was right for the role. Mann's first major contribution to the production was extensive script work. Having worked across Asia in Thailand, mainland China, Hong Kong, and Indonesia, he recognized the common pitfalls of translated dialogue. 'Usually when you translate like that, you lose a lot of meaning, you lose a lot of juice, and first of all, the dialogue doesn't sound right,' Mann explains. 'I think I had to work for a month, like every day, to work with the production, the director, producer.' The process involved understanding the Korean team's intentions for each scene and line, then translating those concepts into natural English vernacular specific to how an investment banker would speak. 'Every line, every scene, I had to first of all understand what they were thinking. Then I had to translate it, spit it out in English.' The effort paid off. After seeing the finished film in Korea, Mann says he's 'very pleased' with how the English dialogue flows naturally, adding that it will help the film resonate when it travels to English-speaking markets. Working within Korea's production system revealed fascinating differences from Hollywood practices. On his first night in Seoul, Mann received what he initially thought was a Japanese manga book but turned out to be detailed storyboards for the entire film. 'Midway through the shoot, I realized that they're actually shooting literally according to the storyboard in the book, frame by frame,' Mann recalls. The practice, he learned, has become standard in Korean filmmaking over the past 8-10 years, with studios now requiring storyboards for greenlight approval. Looking forward, Mann sees significant shifts in the industry landscape, particularly in how streaming platforms approach content. 'You can see the streamers, particularly Netflix, realize that the world is bigger than just America,' he observes. 'I think they spend more resources on the rest of the world than in the United States.' Post-pandemic cost pressures following the writers' and actors' strikes have made Asian productions increasingly attractive to studios seeking efficiency. 'The cost of making a series is going to be a lot cheaper than what you make in the U.S., and if you're able to tell an equally exciting story in Asia, that's probably the way to go.' This economic reality aligns with Mann's recent career focus on what he calls 'Hollywood films that take place in Asia.' He recently completed 'The Modelizer,' a romantic comedy shot entirely in Hong Kong, and has several similar projects in development. Having worked with directors ranging from Adam McKay to various Asian filmmakers, Mann has observed distinct cultural approaches to performance and production. 'Adam McKay is very loose and improvisational,' he notes, while Asian directors often emphasize action and 'a little bit more posturing.' Western directors, Mann suggests, tend to expect actors to arrive fully prepared with homework completed for the entire project, while some Asian productions allow for more flexibility and star input during filming. Mann is preparing to announce his next project. Meanwhile, his completed action thriller 'Kill Him 'Til He's Dead' is in post-production for a later 2025 release. The film features Mann in seven different roles, which he describes as 'very groundbreaking' and 'fun.' His current focus continues to center on 'telling stories that happen in Asia, or Asian stories, and infusing it with Hollywood expertise.' 'Big Deal' is currently on release in the U.S., Canada and Korea. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
Korea Herald
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Interview: Byron Mann's Hollywood-to-Seoul stint
How casting call he thought was a mistake led to Hollywood actor's most unexpected role yet "I thought they had made a mistake -- they know I don't speak Korean, they know I'm not Korean, so why would I ever be in a Korean movie?" Byron Mann recalls his initial reaction when his manager called about the offer in 2023. The Hong Kong-born, 58-year-old Hollywood veteran thought someone had their wires crossed. He wasn't wrong to be confused. While Mann had seen a couple of Korean movies before, most memorably "Parasite," the country itself was still pretty much a mystery to him. So much so that he packed coffee beans for the three-month shoot in Korea, unaware that Starbucks populate every block here. "I did not know if there were this many coffee shops in Seoul," he laughs. You've probably seen Mann flex his fighting spirit opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in "Street Fighter" as the franchise's iconic Ryu. You've watched him deliver martial arts mayhem with glam-rock warlord visuals in "The Man with the Iron Fists." Most recently, he's been wreaking havoc as a fire-raising triad boss in Netflix's "Wu Assassins." In "Big Deal" (titled "Soju Wars" in Korean), Mann plays Gordon, a ruthless Hong Kong-based investment banker who swoops into Korea at the height of the 1997 financial meltdown. He's all F-bombs and hostile takeovers, orchestrating the dismantling of a beloved soju company with ice-cold precision. "There's no question that the Korean film industry is big and thriving," Mann says. "But honestly, I did not realize the stature of my co-stars at the time. Maybe that worked to my advantage because I just approached them as actors." It's a hard character to like in a largely mediocre, equally unlikable film, but Mann leans into the challenge of being the bad guy. Playing a despicable corporate raider across cultures might seem a daunting task, but Mann says he truly enjoyed the ride. "The only thing that I care about is what does my character want to do in this film," he says. "From an acting point of view, villains are actually richer to play, more interesting, because there are no boundaries." Despite being a newcomer to Korean cinema, Mann's approach to cross-cultural projects runs deep. Having worked on Chinese and Thai productions before, he knows too well that translated scripts often lose their punch. That's why he went the extra mile to fine-tune his English dialogue on set. "In other productions, the second language dialogue is kind of like an afterthought," he says. "But when that movie or TV show travels internationally, you have people who actually speak that language watching it, and they lose interest because it doesn't click." That insight directly translates into the advice Mann offers to the growing number of actors eyeing Hollywood crossovers: master your English first. "I think any foreign actor who wants to establish themselves in Hollywood -- speaking the language is very important, so that the local audiences can connect." Though the actual acting felt the same across cultures, Mann was struck by Korea's meticulous approach to pre-production and marketing. The exhaustive shot-by-shot planning and extra care given to artist branding impressed him in particular as going "even beyond Hollywood standards." Working alongside his co-stars Yoo Hae-jin and Lee Je-hoon proved equally eye-opening. "Even though I didn't have a lot of scenes with Yoo, we actually spent a lot of time talking in English," Mann recalls. "His English is impeccable." Of Lee Je-hoon, who delivered 30-40 percent of his dialogue in English, Mann speaks with respect: "He would do more takes than usual to make sure that the scene was right. The fact that he did it so well is a testament to his professionalism and work ethic." Looking back, Mann reflects on the sheer unpredictability of his artistic journey. "I've been doing this job for a while, and you never know what is going to be presented to you. I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that being part of a Korean movie was the last thing I ever imagined myself doing." Asked why audiences should watch "Big Deal," Mann pauses thoughtfully before his face lights up: "If I'm correct, I think there's never been a Korean movie about soju before -- which is ironic and surprising. If I were Korean, I'd really want to see this film."
