Lee Byung-hun will star in a film adaptation of Maurene Goo’s young adult novel I Believe in a Thing Called Love, the Hollywood Reporter reports.
The actor and singer known for his roles in G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra and The Magnificent Seven will also produce the movie for Netflix, along with Mary Lee and Charles Pak.
Goo’s 2017 novel follows Desi Lee, a high schooler who falls in love with a transfer student and uses techniques she learned from Korean drama series to woo him. Lee is set to star as Desi’s widower father. The screenplay will be written by Yulin Kuang, creator of the television show I Ship It.
On Twitter, Goo shared her excitement about the film, writing, “This is the news that matters to my mother: I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE going to Netflix, adapted by the amazing @YulinKuang, produced by A-Major, starring and produced by Lee Byung-hun! I grew up with K dramas so this is unreal.”
This is the news that matters to my mother: I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE going to Netflix, adapted by the amazing @YulinKuang, produced by A-Major, starring and produced by Lee Byung-hun! I grew up with K dramas so this is unreal 😭https://t.co/9KEux2yaBt
— Maurene Goo (@maurenegoo) July 19, 2021
News of the film comes one month after Netflix announced it plans to adapt Goo’s 2019 novel Somewhere Only We Know as a feature film adapted by screenwriter Lana Cho, who has written episodes of television shows such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
