Korean Actor Lee Byung-hun Breaks Golden Globe Barriers
The Squid Game star becomes the first Korean performer nominated in the Best Actor Comedy category, competing against Hollywood heavyweights for his role in Park Chan-wook's dark thriller.
Lee Byung-hun woke up to a text message that changed Korean cinema history. The actor became the first Korean performer nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes, earning recognition for his performance in Park Chan-wook's satirical thriller 'No Other Choice'.
The nomination caps an extraordinary streak for Byung-hun, who starred in Netflix's biggest series 'Squid Game' and the platform's top movie 'KPop Demon Hunters'. His friend's early morning text delivered the news while he slept.
Historic Recognition Brings Mixed Emotions
'I was sleeping. And my Korean friend texted me. That's how I found out, but it was like dreaming, because I was sleeping! It was fantastic. And I was so happy but I'm trying to be satisfied only with the nomination, because acting is not about winning or losing. Everybody has their own value. So whatever it is I'm trying to enjoy that day, and it's going to be my first experience at the Golden Globes. And I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of great moviemakers and actor friends,' Byung-hun told Variety.
His competition includes Jesse Plemons for 'Bugonia', Timothée Chalamet in 'Marty Supreme', Leonardo DiCaprio for 'One Battle After Another', George Clooney in 'Jay Kelly', and Ethan Hawke for 'Blue Moon'. Byung-hun praised several competing films, particularly 'One Battle After Another' and 'Train Dreams'.
Park Chan-wook's Latest Gets Critical Praise
'I liked One Battle After Another and Train Dreams. In Train Dreams, there is this deep pain in that film that sort of continues from the beginning to the end. And it's a little bit hard to put [into] words, but it's almost as if a needle is kind of pricking you throughout the film. It's not like there's a huge climax or it makes you sob necessarily, but it's really like that consistency of that feeling was really notable to me,' he explained.
MovieWeb reviewer Juan Barquin called 'No Other Choice' one of 2025's best films. The critic wrote: 'No Other Choice is as pitch-black a comedy as they come, reveling in the messiness of murder and the skewed morals of what is and isn't right when your life (and the lives of others) depends on it. That dark tone is bound to be off-putting for some, unable to grapple with the playfulness with which Park presents monstrous actions, but that indulgence in cruelty is part of the point.'
Director's Stylistic Evolution Continues
Barquin praised Park's continued artistic growth: 'Everything about No Other Choice feels like Park having a field day with his work. His sense of humor pairs with the way he interrogates moral conundrums, never once being ashamed to laugh at (or with) something even when it is being presented in earnest (like his sincere, if occasionally deranged, romances like The Handmaiden and Decision to Leave in recent years).'
The review highlighted Park's technical innovation: 'Most delightful of all here is the way his style continues to evolve, his formal playfulness feeling looser than ever. His usual stylistic flourishes – seemingly always determined to discover new ways to present a joke through a simple cut or finding beauty in a minute moment through an inspired transition or a dissolve between scenes – are less tied to character emotions or underscoring narrative beats in this picture and more for the sake of just looking cool.'