Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae’s directorial debut Hunt in Cannes

Lee Jung-jae, the lead actor of the Netflix hit series Squid Game, will be at the Cannes Film Festival this year with the world premiere of his feature film debut Hunt.

The film (aka “Namsun”) will be screened in the Midnight Screening section of the Cannes Festival next month. Two other films will be screened at midnight: Quentin Dupieux’s ‘Fumer Fait Tousser’ and Scott Morgen’s ‘Moonage Daydream’. Most of the festival’s official selections were announced at a press event in Paris on Thursday.

Hunt is a 1980s Korean-language spy thriller that Lee got drawn into after he bought the rights and rewrote the screenplay. In addition to veteran Jung Woo-sun, Lee is also in the picture. His role as an elite agent working for the Agency for National Security Planning leads him to hunt down a North Korean spy and become increasingly aware of the dark truths of his own country.

“Just because I’m taking on the director’s job on this film doesn’t mean I’m giving up acting. Acting is still my favorite and I intend to focus on that,” he said diversity in October last year.

Lee has been an established star in South Korea since the late 1990s and narrated diversity not much had changed for him in October and he wasn’t getting many calls from Hollywood. “No suggestions or requests came my way,” he said diversity. “If the right person comes along, I’d be happy to take part in an overseas production. Might be fun.”

But as the international success of “Squid Game” snowballed and Lee received several US awards – he received acting awards at the 28th Screen Actors’ Guild Awards, the Critics’ Choice Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards – it became the most affordable Star of Korea.

Soon after, both Lee and the series’ female star Hoyeon (aka Jung Ho-yeon) were acquired by CAA.