Cultish Korean director Park Chan-wook’s English-language debut, the curio-cabinet-like Stoker, was something of a wash commercially and critically, earning lukewarm reviews and making less than a sixth of its budget at the US box office. (The A.V. Club liked it, though.)
The Playlist is reporting that Park’s next film will find him back in South Korea––though this time, he’ll be working from English-language source material. The movie, currently titled Agashi, is an adaptation of Sarah Waters’ Victorian lesbian crime novel Fingersmith (yes, the title is a double entendre), which was previously adapted in 2005 as a two-part BBC production starring Sally Hawkins.
Park’s version will transplant the plot––which involves a petty thief who takes part in a con to defraud an orphaned heiress, only to fall in love with her mark––from 19th-century London to early 20th-century Korea, during a period when the country was annexed by the Empire of Japan. Considering Park’s penchant for Gothic atmosphere and erotic undertones, it seems like a perfect fit.