Singer-songwriter and Atlanta-born K-pop expat Eric Nam is headed to the big screen. He is set to make his acting debut in Transplant directed by Jason Park, who co-wrote the script with David J. Lee. The feature comes from Nina Yang Bongiovi and Forest Whitaker’s Significant Productions which brought us stellar cinema such as Fruitvale Station and Sorry to Bother You.
THR reports Nam is set to star as Jonah Yoon, a top surgical resident at an elite hospital with a punishing drive to succeed under the training of Dr. Edward Harmon (Bill Camp, The Queens Gambit), a renowned heart transplant surgeon obsessed with maintaining his reputation of perfection. The cast also includes Michelle Okkyung Lee, April Grace, and Adam Arkin.
Transplant marks Park’s feature directorial debut. He will also produced alongside Whitaker and Bongiovi. The film recently wrapped production and is co-financed by Endeavor Content as well as AUM Group, the multicultural film fund launched in 2020 by Bongiovi and other Asian American leaders in film and tech. Significant Productions’ Passing from 2021 marked AUM’s first feature.
“Forest and I love working with feature directorial debuts of auteurs, and Jason came with a brilliant screenplay that dives into cultural specificities, yet conveys immense universal appeal,” Bongiovi said in a statement. “All the filmmakers that we’ve collaborated with have continued to shift the paradigm in Hollywood through authentic representation in narratives, and we see Jason having the same exemplary trajectory.”
Nam is a busy guy. He is prepping for the fall portion of his sold-out There and Back Again world tour. He is repped by WME and EN Management. Park is repped by CAA and Bellevue and Significant is repped by WME and Cohen & Gardner.
