Suspected suicide

JO MIN-KI, a South Korean actor recently accused of a series of sexual misdeeds, was found dead Friday. The police say suicide is suspected.

Jo was best known as a TV actor and as a university drama teacher. His most prominent recent film role was in 2013 hit “The Attorney.” He was accused of molesting eight students at Cheongju University. The 52-year-old actor was adamant about his innocence after the first accusation emerged. But as the number of accusers increased, he was forced to change his position.

That caused him to lose his professorship and the TV series role he was filming. Jo was supposed to present himself to prosecutors for questioning Monday.

‘Ready Player One’

STEVEN SPIELBERG’S new film “Ready Player One” made its world debut at the SXSW festival Sunday night at the Paramount Theater in Austin. Based on Ernest Cline’s novel of the same name, the movie stars Tye Sheridan and Olivia Cooke in the year 2045, when people can escape their harsh reality in an immersive virtual world where the only limits are one’s own imagination.

The film, which also stars Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki, Hannah John-Kamen, Simon Pegg and Mark Rylance, will hit U.S. theaters March 29.

‘Greyhound’

ELISABETH SHUE, “Mudbound” star Rob Morgan and Stephen Graham have joined Tom Hanks’ World War II thriller “Greyhound” for Sony Pictures.

The script for the US$40 million feature, directed by Aaron Schneider, was written by Hanks and is based on the C.S. Forester novel “The Good Shepherd.” The “Captain Phillips” actor will star as Capt. Ernest Krause, who commands U.S. destroyer the Greyhound and crosses the North Atlantic while being pursued by Nazi U-boats.

‘Whitney’

“WHITNEY,” Kevin Macdonald’s documentary about the life and career of Whitney Houston, will be released July 6 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The film has received the support of the late singer’s estate and will include previously unreleased recordings, rare never-before-seen footage and live performances recorded by Houston at various stages of her life, as well as original studio recordings and a cappellas of some of the late singer’s hits. The film also contains personal home-movie footage that has never been seen publicly before, offering a rare glimpse of Houston’s life behind the scenes.

(SD-Agencies)