Theo James To Star In Kim Jee-Woon’s ‘The Hole’; The Veterans Launching Sales On Thriller At AFM

EXCLUSIVE: Theo James (The Gentleman) is set to star in The Holedirected by Kim Jee-woon (I Saw The Devil) and written by Christopher Chen based on the 2017 Shirley Jackson award winning novel of the same name by Hye-young Pyun.

Esmail Corp (Leave the World Behind), K Period Media (Manchester by the Sea), and Anthology Studios (Cobweb) are producing.  The Veterans is representing international sales rights and is launching the project to buyers at AFM next week. CAA Media Finance is repping U.S. rights.

The Hole follows Owen (James), a successful professor living abroad in South Korea, who is bedridden after a devastating car accident that killed his wife, Sandy. He is left under the care of Yuna, his Korean mother-in-law, but when she starts to unravel the devastating truth behind Owen and Sandy’s marriage, and Owen himself, his road to recovery is threatened.

Told in a combination of English and Korean language, the story takes place in both countries and the respective components will be shot in the U.S. and Korea. Principal photography is expected to start in the first half of 2025.

Sam Esmail, Chad Hamilton, and Nick Krishnamurthy are producing for Esmail Corp alongside Kimberly Steward and Alex Foster for K Period Media and Andy Sorgie via Paisan, his KPM backed banner. Jay Choi and Jee-woon are producing with Soon Ho Song who will serve a co-producer for Anthology Studios.

James is an Emmy Award nominee for his role in HBO’s The White Lotus. He recently starred in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen for Netflix and can next be seen in Stephen King’s The Monkey, directed by Osgood Perkins for Neon. James’ is best known for playing Tobias “Four” Eaton in the Divergent film trilogy and is currently in production on David MacKenzie’s Fuze alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Sam Worthington.

James is represented by UTA and Markham, Froggatt & Irwin and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Jee-woon and Anthology are repped by CAA. Esmail Corp is represented by CAA and Mckuin Frankel Whitehead.