Han Jae Deok

Biography

Han Jaeduk, born in 1970, stands out as the trailblazer of a new generation of producers, specializing in the action and thriller genres. After completing his mandatory military service, he decided to try studying films at the then-newly opened Korea National University of Arts, but after failing to be admitted three years in a row, he gave up and moved back to some bread-and-butter job. 

He later completed a 6-month long class in screenwriting, but his scripts failed to interest any producer. It was eventually as a production manager for Spring Bears Love (2003) that he began his career in the film industry. 

He served as the line producer of Park Chanwook’s Old Boy (2003) and then joined Ryoo Seung-wan for Crying Fist (2005) and The Unjust (2010) as a producer. His preference for those traditionally manly genres could also be observed in Yoon Jongbin’s Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time, which became a box office hit in early 2012. 

Since then, he has received attention in the industry as a producer well-connected to top male actors such as Choi Minsik and Ha Jungwoo. In 2012, with the company Sanai Pictures he had just founded, he executive-produced another gangster film, New World (2013), which was also well-received by local audiences, along with another collaboration with Ryoo, The Berlin File (2013), on which he served as co-producer. 

His second film participation as a co-executive producer was KUNDO: Age of the Rampant (2014), re-uniting again with Yoon and Ha. He found success again with the crime film A Violent Prosecutor (2016), scoring 9.7 million admissions, and the Cannes-invited espionage drama The Spy Gone North (2018), while also experimenting with more niche genres such as the financial thriller Money (2019) and the airline disaster comedy with OK! MADAM (2020). 

In 2021, Han joined hands with actor Kim Namgil the multimedia entertainment company Gilstory Entertainment, and the following year, he produced New World star Lee Jungjae’s directing debut, HUNT.