Director Yeon Sang-ho revealed behind-the-scenes stories about the production budget of "Face."
On the 15th, an interview with Yeon Sang-ho, director of the film Face, was held at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Seoul.
The film Face (written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho, produced by Wowpoint (WOWPOINT), co-produced and distributed by Plus M Entertainment) tells the story of Im Dong-hwan (played by Park Jung-min), the son of Im Young-gyu, a blind seal engraving master known as a living miracle (played by Kwon Hae-hyo/Park Jung-min), who, after discovering the skeletal remains of his mother he believed had gone missing 40 years ago, unravels the truth behind her death.
In particular, Face is a unique work produced on an ultra-low budget in the 200 million won range, with a staff of about 20, roughly one-third the size of a typical commercial film, and a short shooting schedule of 13 days over three weeks.
When asked about the break-even point in that context, he cautiously began, "Our (production budget) is so small. But there is also presale," and joked, "I have a debt of gratitude. Saying how much that is is hard to express numerically. To clear the debt of gratitude, I think we would need to reach 10 million."
He also mentioned Park Jung-min, who decided to appear in the film without a guaranteed fee for the work. He said, "We did offer an amount. We agreed to be paid equally. I told him, 'Even if you take it, act like you didn't,' but he insisted on not taking it," and added, "It seems Park Jung-min also has a lot of affection for the project, including promotion. He recently started doing YouTube and did many things without telling the publicity team. It seems he put in a lot of effort himself. But my debt of gratitude keeps growing," which drew laughter.
When asked, "Could it be because of the running guarantee that he worked hard?", Director Yeon laughed and said, "I suspected that too. He himself didn't even know exactly how that was contracted. I told him recently."
Director Yeon also said, "In Korea, the investment system keeps discussing and tries to reduce anything divisive, and production is shaped that way. I actually don't think that's the way to make better films. Having some divisiveness is part of a work's sharpness. The larger the budget, the more that seems to get worn away."
He added, "I don't think it's necessarily good for the theater system to keep cutting costs and trying to reduce divisiveness. It's not a matter of money; I think films should be made with pointed individuality. Maybe the theater system should move toward strengthening individuality. That's what I think."
(Continued in interview ②.)
[Photo] Plus M Entertainment
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