The drama 'The Haunted Palace' director Yoon Seung-sik revealed the background of designing the visuals for the eight-bodied ghost.
On the 18th, Yoon Seung-sik, who is in charge of directing SBS's weekend drama 'The Haunted Palace,' recalled through a written interview with OSEN the reasons the drama received a warm response and took time to discuss the work in detail.
'The Haunted Palace' is a physical fantasy romantic comedy where a shaman Yeo-ri, who rejects the fate of a medium, and an eomuk called Gang-cheol, trapped in the body of Yeo-ri's first love, Yoon-gap, faces the eight-bodied ghost, harboring a grudge against the royal family, resulting in a tightly intertwined fate of body and soul, featuring actors Yook Sung-jae, Kim Ji-yeon, and Kim Ji-hoon.
With the hot topic coming to an end, Yoon Seung-sik expressed gratitude, saying, "We received responses and love beyond expectations. I feel thankful, considering it a reward for the passion and sweat the staff and actors poured into it during the past year of production."
Regarding the secret to this popularity, Director Yoon noted, "The appropriate combination of traditional Korean ghosts-based exorcism fantasy and modern sensibility romance, along with a human drama based on Korean sentiments, seems to have reached many viewers with freshness and comfort."
What specific points were focused on in the directing of 'The Haunted Palace'? Director Yoon revealed, "I hoped that diverse viewers of all generations could watch comfortably and joyfully, feeling moved and resonating with the message the drama wanted to convey through sufficient emotional investment."
Director Yoon stated, "To break the preconceptions about the genre of exorcism fantasy, ghosts or supernatural beings occasionally appear with tension, but I adjusted the level of expression so that it doesn't feel too scary. Additionally, I took a kind approach to explain the story structure, moral dichotomy, and mysteries of character's fates at appropriate timings so that viewers could follow along without too much difficulty."
He continued, "Since the story could easily get heavy and serious, I tried to maintain a rhythm of tension and relaxation by adding comedy to the main characters, allowing the audience to feel comfort and joy after moments of tension."
These directing points significantly attracted attention to the chemistry with the actors. Director Yoon Seung-sik shared his thoughts on working with lead actors Yook Sung-jae, Kim Ji-yeon, and Kim Ji-hoon, saying, "All three lead actors had a tremendous passion for the work and overflowing affection for their respective roles. They are actors with sufficient acting skills and depth to analyze and portray each character, and it was always joyful to communicate and work together. I often found myself amazed by their passion and talent. I feel grateful to the actors for enduring the difficult work, high difficulty acting, and tough schedules."
A character that cannot be missed in 'The Haunted Palace' was the 'eight-bodied ghost.' Many people were particularly surprised by the visuals of the eight-bodied ghost, further enhancing the immersion of the drama. Director Yoon explained regarding the visuals of the eight-bodied ghost, "I had many considerations when designing the eight-bodied ghost. The initial concept of the eight-bodied ghost was a ghost formed from the restless souls of hundreds of citizens sacrificed in Yongdam Valley. However, after discussions with the writer, we decided to establish a symbolic character representing those hundreds, which led to the creation of the Cheon Geum-hwi character."
He stated, "As the Cheon Geum-hwi character from a military family seeks to channel the grievances of the Yongdam Valley citizens, I aimed to reveal the theme through his journey. As the Cheon Geum-hwi character was created, it was completed as a terrifying eight-bodied ghost character who was skilled in martial arts, a brilliant strategist, and bore deep sorrow and grievance. Additionally, we provided a setting of 'Hwa-gwi' (fire ghost) as a symbol of the Yongdam Valley victims who met their end engulfed in flames and crying in pain."
He added, "Based on this, the eight-bodied ghost was designed with an enormous physique of 8 feet (approximately 2.4 meters), wearing burnt, charred armor and possessing a terrifying appearance with severe burns on one side of the head and skin due to the fire."
Meanwhile, SBS's 'The Haunted Palace' concluded on the 7th. Following it is the new SBS weekend drama 'Our Movie.'
[Photo] SBS 'The Haunted Palace'
[OSEN]