Kim Jee-woon's "kimchi western" "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" inspired by Sergio Leone's work, would become one of Jung's most iconic roles, using his physicality to great effect as the Clint Eastwood counterpart in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". The film was screened out of competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival which also marked its world premiere. Jung attended the festival together with his co-stars. He won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 3rd Asian Film Awards and the Outstanding Achievement in Acting Award at the 2008 Hawaii International Film Festival for his performance. Shortly after Jung would work again with Kim Jee-woon on a short film for W Korea.