- From Stage to Screen: He initially began his career in the entertainment industry as a stage actor and theater director before transitioning into filmmaking.
- Winning Debut: His feature directorial debut, the pitch-black comedy The Quiet Family (1998), earned him the Best Screenplay award at a major Korean scenario contest. The film was later adapted into a Japanese musical-comedy titled The Happiness of the Katakuris.
- Hollywood Venture: In 2013, he made his U.S. feature directorial debut with The Last Stand, an action film that served as Arnold Schwarzenegger's first major leading role after his tenure as Governor of California.
- Historical Oscar Bid: His period espionage thriller The Age of Shadows (2016) was selected as South Korea's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards, ultimately beating out other major contenders for the spot.
- Recurring Collaborators: He frequently works with some of the biggest names in South Korean cinema. Notable examples include A-listers Song Kang-ho, Choi Min-sik, and Lee Byung-hun, who have all starred in multiple projects of his.
- Genre Master: He successfully shifted the traditional "spaghetti western" into a Manchurian setting with his critically acclaimed 2008 film The Good, the Bad, the Weird, famously starring recurring collaborator Lee Byung-hun.
- Personal Style & Motifs: His highly stylized visual aesthetic often features an "anti-hero," a cold villain, a smart but goofy sidekick, and his signature "trunk shot" (a camera angle looking up from inside the trunk of a car).
- International Awards: In 2018, the French Ministry of Culture appointed him as an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres to honor his significant contributions to cinema.
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