Career
He wrote and directed Fatal (2013) and Entangled (2014). Lee Don-ku, then a high school student, made his acting debut in 2001 in the leading role of Cheol-minimum in hip-hop dance movie Turn lieutenant Up. He subsequently directed the shorts Life of Dog and Help (both in 2009), while working for Cube Entertainment as head of their media division.
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 United States$3,000.
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. A romantic drama and psychological thriller that explores guilt and forgiveness, Fatal drew domestic and international critical acclaim.
His second feature followed in 2014. Starring Kim Young-ae, Do Ji-won, Song Il-gook and Kim So-eun, Entangled is a portrait of a family in the aftermath of the tragic, accidental death of a newborn baby at the hands of the Alzheimer"s-afflicted matriarch.
