Han's experience in the early stages of Korean cinema renaissance in the 1990s, cemented his belief in a script-driven model for movie-making. Thus the founding of "Makdong Script Festival" (named after his role in Green Fish), with co-sponsor film magazine Cine 21. Winners may claim two cash prizes funded by Han, with the potential to launch directing careers based from their own scripts. The annual contest is now extant over 10 years, with two titles produced so far: the comedy 2424 (2002) and Private Eye (2009) starring Hwang Jung-min.
Han returned in 2003 with espionage film Double Agent. The film, which netted one million admissions, was seen as a failure for a star labeled by the media as "box office guarantee." This was followed by a sizable backlash from netizens and the press, who rushed to bury the co-self-produced spy thriller as the public disgrace of a former golden boy.
He remained self-managed until as late as 2006, before joining the KM Culture agency due to increased regimentation of the industry. Making 2006 a busy year, Han starred in period sex comedy Forbidden Quest, followed by black comedy film A Bloody Aria and melodrama film Solace. Stylish thrillers followed, where Han starred alongside Cha Seung-won in Eye for an Eye and Son Ye-jin in the adaptation of Keigo Higashino novel of White Night. Han then starred in Villain and Widow with Kim Hye-soo.
Han returned to the spotlight with his performance in historical drama Deep Rooted Tree, where his performance of King Sejong earned him the Grand Award at the 2011 SBS Drama Awards.
Before the end of the 20th century, Han headlined films that were critically acclaimed (Green Fish, No. 3) and commercially successful (The Contact, Christmas in August, Shiri — the latter two making particular impact in Japan).
In 2017, Han starred in the crime film The Prison. Han is slated to star in upcoming thrillers Idol and Father's War.
