Director Kim Jee Woon 김지운 Kim Ji Woon

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Published on June 26, 2017 by ARIRANG TV

 

Film critic from London and fan of Korean films, Jason Bechervaise

 

 

 

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March 1 2020

 

Partnership between Actor and Director:   Kim Jee Woon  -   Lee Byung Hun enhance each other (A translation) 

 

Film director Kim Jee Woon and actor Lee Byung Hun showed their respective director and acting styles.

 

OBS, ”Unique Performing Arts News" (Planning, Director, Supervisor Yoon Kyung Chul, Author Park Eun Kyung, Kim Hyun Seon) met with  key directors of the movie industry to understand the actors. It is reported that Kim Jee Woon and and Lee Byung Hun who collaborated for the first time in the film “A Bittersweet Life”  have collaborated on 4 works.  It is reported that at that time director Lim Jee Woon also performed face to to  face Lee Byung Hun  in order to cast him.

 

The two met again in the movie “ The Good, The Bad, The Weird". However, Lee Byung Hun did not dare to agree easily when director KIm appraoched him for that movie.

 

In response, Lee said, “It took a lot of time to decide to appear in this movie. The reason was actually whether I could play this role normally.” Then he added, "At first it felt like the movie (Mad Max. ). Do you think I chose this movie well?”

 

However, Lee continued to star in films like “A Bittersweet Life”, “The Good, The Bad, The Weird” , “I Saw the Devil” other works directed by Kim Jee Woon. He defined a distinctive style of acting using delicate feelings with charismatic eyes and voice.

 

With respect to a scene in :The Good, The Bad, The Weird” Dir. Kim praised Lee Byung Hun Hun’s acting skills and said, 'This scene has short hair of different sizes, but Lee’s amazing concentration is outstanding. ‘

 

In view of the fate between the Director and Actor, Lee Byung Hun made a special appearance in the movie “The Age of Shadows”, despite his limited screentime, Lee overwhelmed the entire movie with his mesmerizing eyes.     

 

Lee Byung Hun said, “I usually say to Dir. Kim that we have a ‘love-hate ‘ relationship' , a relationship like smoke;  just a very interesting joke. Of course, in the shooting process, compared to other directors, people who make relatively difficult demands on actors are right.  Although the director is really hard and tenacious, I think maybe all actors want to experience this kind of director at least once.” 

 

Source:   Weibo

 

https://www.weibo.com/tv/v/IwgpXhA1W?fid=1034:4476895257886743

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Source: Simon (Korean film enthusiast)

 

Although A BITTERSWEET LIFE may not be a life-changing movie for some people. It is a very meaningful movie to me.
This is because in the 11 to 12 years that I have been working as a director. 
Although this is neither a short or long period of time.
This movie expressed my style as a director, and the mood which I was in at the time of filming.
It was also a period in which Lee Byung-hun was re-discovered as an actor.
Some people might even consider this movie to be similar to the 2nd
prime time in his career.
It gave him the opportunity to become a big-time actor.

 

 

Furthermore it introduced the Noir genre to the general Korean audience and it clearly showed them what type of movie this genre entailed, and its view of the world.
So even though this may not seem like a big deal. It makes it more special and meaningful to me.
Although I already mentioned it a few times in previous interviews, 'it was a pleasure to be able to capture Lee Byung-hun's best moments on camera' during his middle 30s when he was still young.
I also consider it an honor to have able to film these special moments with 
the Noir genre and the use of Blu-ray Disc.