[ Asia Economy ] Actor Yoo Ah-in (real name Eom Hong-sik), who is on trial for drug use, has been nominated for an award ceremony hosted by the Directors Guild of Korea (DGK).
The DGK announced the list of nominees for the 23rd Directors’ Cut Awards, which will be held next month, on the 22nd. Films, dramas, and series directed by regular and associate DGK members released between January 1 last year and the 31st of last month are eligible for review.
Yoo Ah-in has been nominated for the Best Actor award for the movie ‘The Match’, released last month, competing with Robert Pattinson from ‘Mickey 17’, Yoon Joo-sang from ‘Seagull by the Morning Sea’, Lee Byung-hun from ‘The Match’, and Choi Min-sik from ‘Exhumation’.
Mr. Yoo was indicted in October last year for allegedly habitually using medical drugs such as propofol at hospitals around Seoul 181 times, under the guise of cosmetic procedure sedation, from September 2020 to March 2022. The drug use amounted to 9635.7ml of propofol, 567mg of midazolam, 11.5mg of ketamine, and 200mg of remimazolam.
He is also accused of illegally purchasing over 1100 pills of two types of sleeping medication under another person’s name 44 times from May 2021 to August 2023. Additionally, he is charged with smoking marijuana three times in the U.S. with Mr. Choi and others in January last year and instructing others to smoke it as well. He was sentenced to one year in prison in the first trial in September last year but was released after receiving a suspended sentence in the appellate court. The prosecution has appealed to the Supreme Court.
For the Best Actress award at the Directors’ Cut Awards, actress Kim Go-eun has been nominated for ‘The Love Law of a Big City’ and ‘Exhumation’, included with Kim Jae-hwa from ‘To Her’, Shin Hye-sun from ‘She Died’, and Yang Hee-kyung from ‘Seagull by the Morning Sea’.
Nominees for Best Director in the film category include Kim Hyung-joo for ‘The Match’, Nam Dong-hyeob for ‘Handsome Guys’, Bong Joon-ho for ‘Mickey 17’, Woo Min-ho for ‘Harbin’, Jang Jae-hyeon for ‘Exhumation’, and Heo Jin-ho for ‘Ordinary Family’.
For the series category, newly established in 2022, nominees for Best Director include Kim Gok·Kim Sun for ‘Family Planning’, Park Chan-wook for ‘The Sympathizer’, Yeon Sang-ho for ‘Parasite: The Grey’, Lee Chang-hee for ‘The Murderer’, Lim Dae-hyung for ‘LTNS’, and Hwang Dong-hyuk for ‘Squid Game’ Season 2.
The Directors’ Cut Awards, first held in 1998 by the ‘Young Film Directors Group Directors’ Cut’, have been hosted by the DGK since 2017. This event selects nominees and winners through votes by Korean film directors, and this year it will be held on May 20 at 7 PM.
Lee Isul Reporter ssmoly6@asiae.co.kr
<ⓒEconomic Content Platform for Investors, Asia Economy (www.asiae.co.kr) Unauthorized reproduction and distribution prohibited>
