Upcoming thriller Sheriff has found its trio of lead stars in actors LEE Sung-min, CHO Jin-woong and KIM Sung-kyun. The Busan-set film will mark the directorial debut of KIM Hyung-ju, who was one of the writers on the 2014 period action film KUNDO : Age of the Rampant, which featured all three of the leads of his upcoming debut.

LEE Sung-min will take on the role of Dae-ho, a former detective who in his retirement sees himself as the protector of his neighborhood. He begins to suspect that a wealthy businessman from Seoul is responsible for bringing drugs into his neighborhood.

Veteran film actor LEE has in recent years oscillated between leading roles in films such as Broken (2014) and SORI: Voice from the Heart (2016) and supporting parts in commercial fares including The Attorney (2013) and A Violent Prosecutor (2016).

CHO Jin-woong, who plays the entrepreneur suspected of foul play, is a popular character actor with credits that include Roaring Currents (2014), Assassination (2015) and PARK Chan-wook’s upcoming The Handmaiden, who recently made the jump to leading man through films such as A Hard Day (2014).

Playing Dae-ho’s brother-in-law and partner, KIM Sung-kyun is another popular supporting star who got his start in Nameless Gangster : Rules of the Time (2012) and has subsequently amassed almost 20 credits.

Sheriff will mark the sixth onscreen pairing of CHO and KIM, who have starred together in Nameless Gangster : Rules of the Time, Man on the Edge (2013), We Are Brothers (2014) and Chronicle of a Blood Merchant (2015), as well as KUNDO : Age of the Rampant.

New World (2013) and A Violent Prosecutor backer Sanai Pictures is handling production on the film, which will begin shooting in July.