After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival a full 11 months ago, the disaster movie “Emergency Declaration” will finally open in August.

Starring Song Kang-ho, Jeon Do-yeon and Lee Byung-hun, the thriller tells of an aviation disaster that occurs in the middle of a flight from Seoul to Honolulu. The captain is forced to declare an emergency landing.

Han Jae-rim of “The Face Reader” (2013) and “The King” (2017) directed the film, while Cannes’ Best Actor and Best Actress awardees Song and Jeon portray a veteran police detective and a cabinet minister. Jeon was named Best Actress for her performance in director Lee Chang-dong’s "Secret Sunshine" at Cannes in 2007, a film in which Song also co-starred.

Lee, who has starred in many prominent works such as the G.I Joe series and tvN dramas "Mr. Sunshine" (2018) and "Our Blues" (2022), portrays a father on the plane who has a fear of flying.

For a disaster movie, the production had a full share of its own disasters.

“Since filming the movie [in 2020], there have been big and small crises in the world,” said director Han at a press conference at the Westin Josun Seoul in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Monday.

“When Covid-19 broke out, ‘Emergency Declaration’ was in the middle of filming and we saw things we were imagining for our movie unfolding in real life. Now the world is recovering from the pandemic and I think that was mainly due to solidarity. ‘Emergency Declaration’ aims to portray this. It is a suspenseful film with entertaining factors, but it also offers a retrospective look at what we have gone through over the last three years and how we are overcoming it.”

“Disaster movies are a common film genre around the world, but what makes this movie a standout is how it expresses the sense of solidarity amid a crisis in a very sophisticated and mature manner,” Song said at the press conference. “And this was recognized by people who saw the premiere in Cannes. They told me that the way team spirit was drawn in this film was incredibly insightful.”

“Emergency Declaration” was invited to the 74th Cannes Film Festival in 2021 in the non-competing section of the event. A release in local theaters was postponed due to the pandemic.

Song, Jeon, Han and actor Yim Si-wan attended the Cannes Film Festival last year in person.

It was Yim's first time at Cannes and he described his experience as “electric.”

“Nobody in the theater knew who I was so they were applauding after the movie just because they liked the acting, not for who I was," he said at the press conference. "That was very satisfying and something I had never felt before.”

Yim’s role in the film has not yet been specified as his character is part of some major plot twists.

As the youngest member of the cast and coming from K-pop, Yim said he was grateful for the opportunity to work with such influential figures in Korean cinema.

“I couldn’t believe that I was filming this movie until I finished shooting my first scene.”

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]