Lee Don-ku, then a high school student, made his acting debut in 2001 in the leading role of Cheol-min in hip-hop dance movie Turn It Up.
[3] To finance his feature directorial debut, Lee then worked as a bathhouse attendant and handed out flyers on street corners, thereby raising the micro-budget of US$3,000.
[4] He cast his close friend Nam Yeon-woo as a 28-year-old man who is haunted by his complicity in a teenage girl's gang rape a decade ago, then re-encounters her (played by Yang Jo-ah) at a local church.
[5] After two years in development, Lee's Fatal (titled Thorny Flower in Korean) premiered at the 17th Busan International Film Festival in 2012 and was released in theaters in 2013.
[6] A romantic drama and psychological thriller that explores guilt and forgiveness, Fatal drew domestic and international critical acclaim.