Park Yoon-Ho producer shared behind-the-scenes stories and his sincere thoughts about "The King's Warden".
Park Yoon-Ho, who produced the film "The King's Warden" (director Jang Hang-jun, distributed by SHOWBOX, produced by Onda Works · BAN Entertainment), spoke about the work in a written interview with OSEN.
Set in 1457 at Cheongnyeongpo, the film "The King's Warden," which tells the story of a village chief who volunteered for exile to revive the village and the young former king who was deposed and exiled, went on to draw 537,190 viewers on Feb. 16 (Mon), setting the highest single-day holiday attendance since the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 for the Lunar New Year holiday, and rose to No. 1 at the box office for 2026. Then on Feb. 17 (Tue), the Lunar New Year day, it surpassed 3 million cumulative admissions, reaching its break-even point, and on Feb. 18 (Wed), the 15th day after release, it exceeded 4 million cumulative admissions, putting it on the verge of surpassing 5 million viewers.
About this box office success, Park Yoon-Ho said, "Above all, I am grateful to the audiences who came to the theaters, and it is most rewarding that the efforts poured by many staff and actors on site led to the audience's choice. As a producer, the most basic virtue of a commercial film is to surpass the break-even point, and I think the sincerity of the work, which sought to view familiar historical figures from a new perspective, seemed to reach the audience, and I find it meaningful that this aspect could be connected to the film's success," he said, offering his thanks.
Danjong, who is dealt with in "The King's Warden," is one of the tragic monarchs that have been reinterpreted several times in Korean narratives. Because of that, it could have easily become a story that audiences had seen before, but "The King's Warden" has been praised for presenting a fresh perspective that reinterprets both the person of Danjong and his end. To this, Park Yoon-Ho said, "Danjong is already a tragic figure that has been dealt with many times in Korean narratives. So what was most important in choosing this project was, 'Is this just another Danjong story? Or is it a story that asks a completely different question?'"
He continued, "Rather than repeatedly explaining Danjong's tragedy, this work sought to present freshness by applying cinematic imagination to the choices and emotions of people who lived in that era and the relationships left behind in silence," and added, "As a producer, I wanted this film not to stop at reproducing historical facts, but to place emphasis on delicately building the texture of emotions rather than the scale of events, giving viewers an opportunity to think from a somewhat different distance."
What completed this portrayal of Danjong was undoubtedly Park Jihoon's powerful performance. About actor Park Jihoon, Park Yoon-Ho said, "The Danjong I imagined was not the commonly consumed image of a 'fragile symbol of tragedy' but closer to a human being who had to bear the fractures of a confusing world far too early for his age. I thought the emotions and silence of a boy driven into a situation without choices were more important than the status of being a king. So what was most needed from the actor playing Danjong was not explanatory acting but a face that endures. Even without excessively displaying emotions, I hoped for an actor in whom you could see what he was enduring."
He added, "In that sense, the Danjong that Park Jihoon actually completed was far more restrained and at the same time firmer than we had imagined during production. What impressed me was that he looked like someone who had passed through those situations rather than someone who was 'acting' emotions in each scene," and he continued, "So when audiences said, 'He really is Danjong,' I thought that was not simply a matter of synchronization but the result of the actor making the character's time and emotions entirely his own."
He also praised Yoo Hai Jin for completing the village chief "Eom Heung-do." Park Yoon-Ho said, "Eom Heung-do is a figure with few records, so that blank space was both a burden and, conversely, a possibility for the production team. The gap between historical facts and cinematic imagination was the part where the film approached Danjong's short exile days and Eom Heung-do and the people of the village in Yeongwol. Rather than excessively approaching historical facts, I wanted to focus on the ethics and choices of ordinary people who lived in that era, and Yoo Hai Jin was decisive in realizing that role," he said.
He said, "I felt that Yoo Hai Jin's deep expression and breathing naturally carried the passage of a life without needing special explanation, and I thought that would make Eom Heung-do, who exists outside the records, convincing. In the end, I think that choices were revealed more through silence or hesitation than through grand lines or dramatic acts, and that made the tragedy feel more realistic. I also think Yoo Hai Jin completed the character Eom Heung-do three-dimensionally. In particular, his acting that did not flaunt emotion even at moments of decision, and instead showed hesitation first, was impressive. His restrained density solidified the film's overall tone," he said.
He also recounted a challenging behind-the-scenes story. With Yeongwol's Cheongnyeongpo, Danjong's place of exile, as the main stage, Park Yoon-Ho recalled, "One of the first things we pushed for as soon as pre-production began was a survey of Cheongnyeongpo in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, the actual site of Danjong's exile," and said, "We worried a lot about whether, with cooperation and permission at the location, we could envision partial set changes and art and prop settings. In reality, Cheongnyeongpo still cannot be reached on foot and is not very wide, and one must still enter by boat from the dock," he recalled.
He continued, "Among many checks, the present Cheongnyeongpo landing site has been modernized as a tourist spot, so the architectural styles and surrounding conditions inevitably differed greatly from cinematic spaces. Even if we attempted changes, there were challenges such as large-scale set construction, art and prop setup, and restoration afterward, and we judged it would be somewhat impractical to proceed at the current location due to scale and flow. Also, the main shooting schedule coincided with Yeongwol county's 'Danjong cultural festival,' making it temporally incompatible with pre-setting, filming, and restoration schedules. And because one still had to move by boat, there were difficulties in access during preparation, filming, and restoration, so we decided to build an open set in a place with a natural structure similar to Cheongnyeongpo that would allow staff access and smooth progress," he explained.
To find the current filming location, the production team searched for about three months along the Taebaek mountain range, scouting various areas from the upper reaches of the Bukhan River and Namhan River to Pyeongchang, Jeongseon, Yeongwol, Danyang, Jecheon, Andong, and others. However, they could not find a suitable area, and ultimately they chose Yeongwol. Producer Park said, "We felt that the original Cheongnyeongpo's sense of geographic isolation could only be realized in that region and the Donggang, so we selected land under the Seondol observatory in Yeongwol and began building an open set there."
One point that has been praised about "The King's Warden" is its historical accuracy. Regarding the thorough verification of costumes, props, and spatial formation, producer Park said, "I believed that in historical films, even a small flaw in art, props, sets, or costume accuracy could break immersion, so from the start of preparation we aimed to work with the most professional and experienced staff in each field. Director Jang Hang-jun also supported the staff's insistence and will regarding verification, and I believe everyone demonstrated outstanding capabilities in their respective areas," he said.
He said, "In particular, since the bow holds important symbolic meaning in the film, we devoted a lot of time to prior training for actors on shooting posture and the skills to handle it adeptly. We distinguished between the ways and postures of royals using bows (Hongwi), nobles and gentry (Han Myeong-hoe), and those who must hunt while living in the mountains (Taesan), and from pre-production through filming we conducted training with experts (traditional archery experts) and made bows suited to each situation. We also had the actors receive on-site posture correction visits beyond consultation during filming." In addition, regarding Maehwa and Prince Geumseong, he recalled the rigorous times, saying, "We also had experts supervise court etiquette and period cuisine and provided pre-education and training time for the director, production team, and actors, and conducted some on-site training as needed to aid realization."
He recalled the most difficult production moments. Producer Park said, "This project had not a single indoor studio shoot; it was 100% on-location. Exposed to the vast variable that is nature, as a producer who must operate budget, time, and personnel efficiently, I was sensitive to even the amount of sunlight and a single cloud," and added, "The pressure to always create the best environment within a fixed schedule followed, but what sustained us was the 'active cooperation' and 'unity' of everyone on site. Thanks to that, we were able to complete the shooting efficiently in 91 days, rather than the expected 3.5 months," recounting the intense set.
Asked about especially difficult moments, he said, "A record-breaking snowstorm fell in the Mungyeong area just one day before the mid-March crank-in. It was a desperate situation with the outdoor set buried in snow, but the production team deployed heavy equipment for snow removal, and the art and props teams restored the village in places while simultaneously setting up, showing tremendous spirit. Scenes such as the one where Norugol village chief (played by Ahn Jaehong) and Gwangcheonggol village chief (played by Yoo Hai Jin) meet on the magistrate's street were precious shots born of that tearful struggle," and he added, "Personally I tried to respond nimbly to weather changes and adjust the schedule, but sometimes I exchanged good-natured chidings with the director, who passionately asked me to even predict cloud movements. That much, our set was fierce but flowed with deep trust among one another," implying the close-knit filming site.
Producer Park, who worked with director Jang Hang-jun on the film "Rebound," said, "(Director Jang Hang-jun) was, beyond his title, an excellent elder, colleague, and friend. He and senior actor Yoo Hai Jin share a humanist mindset that values dignity and worth in a collaborative filming environment; I was confident this project could create a good texture by consulting with actors and staff because he best understood the film's tone. Although it deals with historical tragedy, we prioritized not becoming mired only in weightiness nor allowing the story to be consumed lightly, and particularly the degree of relationships between characters. We agreed on steering the film toward moments that let audiences feel rather than directing emotions explanatorily," he said, praising their perfect rapport.
Producer Park Yoon-Ho also revealed his impressions of the project. When asked why he personally felt, 'I must complete this film well,' Park said, "Having started as the youngest member of production and watched film sets for nearly 18 years, I have often seen the process and dedication behind creating a work erased too easily under the names of 'box office success' or 'results.' For this film, I wanted the set to be remembered as a place where the process was respected as much as the outcome, believing that the film was made by the accumulation of small decisions and efforts of each staff member and actor. That is why I hoped the film would be evaluated as 'completed together' rather than simply 'successful.' I wanted this film to ensure that the efforts of those who passed through that time together would not be denied. A set with a good process leaves a precedent that leads to good results," he said with deep sincerity.
Finally, when asked why Danjong's story resonates again in this era, Park Yoon-Ho said, "I think the reason Danjong's story resonates now is not because of the scale of the tragedy, but because of the attitude he tried to uphold to the end. I felt Danjong was a figure who, even after losing everything, did not let go of who he was and what choices he would refuse to make," and added, "Today's audiences also face moments of choice and silence they must bear in their own places every day rather than grand events. In that sense, Danjong's story reads not as a past narrative about a king but as a question about how individuals can protect themselves in the face of power and structure."
He continued, "I think interest in Yeongwol or the Danjong cultural festival is not mere tourism or historical curiosity but an extension of a desire to meet this person and his story again in contemporary language," and said, "If this film, beyond numerical achievements, becomes an opportunity for each audience member to connect Danjong and those who lamented and tried to protect him to their own lives, I believe the film has played a sufficiently meaningful role."
[Photo] SHOWBOX / provided by the source
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