[On the Record] Director Lee Won-seok "I Feel Thrilled Breaking Elegance"

'Killing Romance' Director Interview

Influence of 60s-70s Non-mainstream Films
Breaking Existing Formulas to Pursue Fun

Director Lee Won-seok [Photo by Lotte Entertainment]

The 2013 film Man’s User Manual has been humorously talked about for 10 years. I can never forget the shock I felt when I first saw it. At the time, people naturally said “the director is crazy,” remembering it as a film ahead of its time. The movie closely resembles its distinctive director, Lee Won-seok (49). Known as the most edgy and kitschy director in Chungmuro, he has returned with Killing Romance, a “killing romance” that presents itself as a fairy tale for adults.

Recently, I met Director Lee at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. He seemed quite nervous. He charmingly smiled, saying, “I ate kimchi and was eating fish-shaped bread,” then fiddled with a mint gum and asked me to tell him if it smelled, making me laugh. He then said, “It’s been a while since I did a movie interview, so I’m nervous,” showing signs of restlessness. Seeing this lively director, who would be sad to be second best, nervous revealed the enormous pressure he felt.

When the topic of Killing Romance came up, Director Lee immediately regained his vitality as if he had never been nervous. The interview was exhausting because he laughed so much. Here are his candid and lively answers in a Q&A format. I hope the director’s humor and charm, so much like the film, reach the audience.

Killing Romance, released on the 14th, tells the story of island conglomerate heir Jonathan (Lee Sun-kyun) and top star Yeorae (Lee Ha-nee), who suddenly retires after falling into a fateful love, and fan club third-generation member Bummoo (Gong Myung) who meets them and conspires an extraordinary comeback plan. Directed by Lee Won-seok, who also directed Man’s User Manual and The Royal Tailor, and scripted by Park Jung-ye, writer of The Beauty Inside (2015).

‘Killing Romance’: A Bold Adventure

'Killing Romance' stills [Photo by Lotte Entertainment]

=It must not have been easy to immediately think of Lee Sun-kyun for the role of Jonathan. People usually associate him with serious roles like in Parasite. What did you discover about him?

Lee Sun-kyun is really a funny actor. I liked him. (Whispering) Jonathan is like Lee Sun-kyun’s persona. He’s someone who works extremely hard at everything. He always gives his best in every role. I wondered what it would be like if Park Dong-hoon from the drama My Mister (2018) played Jonathan. In the middle of episode 3, there’s a commercial for gum featuring Lee Sun-kyun, and I thought, “Maybe he could play Jonathan.” I wanted to entrust the role to someone unexpected. Jonathan is a common “villain” you see around. There are many like him, and when you look at them, there’s always a reason. Isn’t an algorithm a kind of gaslighting? How many products have we bought from ads on social media? I saw Jonathan as a presence that unknowingly manipulates others.

=What did Lee Sun-kyun say when you offered him the role?

Honestly, I thought he would say no, so I just tried. (Laughs) But he said yes, and I was grateful and happy. The producer and I started with the mindset of “Let’s go all the way.” We joked, “If this doesn’t work out, we’ll have to emigrate,” and decided to see it through. Despite bracing for criticism, we fell in love with the film’s charm and began this adventure.

=What was particularly adventurous about it?

The setup where Yeorae and Bummoo team up to get rid of her husband. I don’t want to promote Director Lee Byung-heon, but he’s a junior from Incheon. (Laughs) His film Wind Wind Wind (2018) is like a comedy textbook. It has awkward setups, absurdity, wordplay, situational gags?every kind of comedy. I was impressed by how he overcame uncomfortable material with his best efforts, and that was a challenge for us too. We decided to go with a fairy tale. I like the word “what if” because it broadens imagination. So we started with “Once upon a time.” The narrator reading a fairy tale was added during adaptation; it’s a classic black comedy device. The narrator is set as a grandmother living in an American trailer, wearing a sweat suit, which is funny. We cast a natural person with no acting experience for the role.

=How was working with writer Park Jung-ye?

Park even got hospitalized while organizing the script. I visited her every day near her house, and we met at a cafe to organize the script. The first draft was realistic, but I suggested, “Let’s go this far.” She accepted and supported it, which I appreciated. I think Killing Romance is a blessed work. As a director, I received a lot from people.

Director Lee Won-seok [Photo by Lotte Entertainment]

=You must have gone through the process of making it a commercial film and refining it. What did you want to do as a director?

I only received directing offers for dramatic scripts. Like an alien version of The Beauty Inside where an alien farts and someone else takes over. When strange settings got stranger, investment didn’t come through. So I went to China to make a film, but they told me to leave because of THAAD. I just toured Beijing hard. (Laughs) I was desperate. This time, the director was told, “Do whatever you want.” Of course, I couldn’t do everything, and I didn’t, but it was my first time working like this. For everyone’s happiness, I cut some extremely absurd scenes. Gong Myung will be discharged soon, and if the film is still in theaters then, I want to show a 2-hour 5-minute “extreme hell.”

=Gong Myung suited the pure Bummoo well. How did you cast him?

When I was wondering who would play Bummoo, I happened to meet Gong Myung at a cafe. I liked his innocent, carefree smile. I felt he was a truly clean person. Lee Sun-kyun and I teased him, saying, “Don’t act,” and “You’re not a bad guy, right?” But he really seemed pure. Honestly, I didn’t know who NCT was, and I was surprised to learn Gong Myung was a younger brother of an NCT member. He grew up in a family atmosphere, so I think he’s more upright.

Home Shopping, Happiness, Ostriches... Behind-the-Scenes That Spark Laughter

=During filming, you were stuck due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It must have been tough.

We tried to film mostly near Seoul, but when we were shooting in Pyeongchang and Yeosu, there was a sudden shutdown. We kept revising the script on set. There were only a few days left to shoot the ending, and we had little money left. I was worried about what to do. Meanwhile, Lee Sun-kyun and I were watching home shopping, and he said, “Oh? That’s my friend!” Watching the shopping host gave me the idea to incorporate a home shopping setting. There were many magical moments.

=H.O.T.’s “Happiness” felt like a spell cast on the audience. How did you decide to use it?

I really like that song. It always makes me happy when I hear it. I was wondering what song would feel like a devil’s magic spell. While eating cold noodles with Lee Sun-kyun, we talked about “How about the song ‘Happiness’?” At that moment, Jang Woo-hyuk was eating cold noodles nearby. He even knew Lee Sun-kyun, and they greeted each other and paid the bill. It felt like divine intervention, so we used it. It was amazing.

=What is “happiness” to you?

Isn’t happiness when your mind is at ease? I’m happiest when I do nothing on the sofa, watching what I want. That seems like true happiness. If you start comparing yourself to others, there’s no end. Everyone has some problems. I think it’s the same for all. Oh, and you shouldn’t use social media too much. Recently, I was drawn by an ad and even bought a back-scratching tool. (Laughs)

'Killing Romance' stills [Photo by Lotte Entertainment]

=How did you use Rain’s “Rainism”?

Someone asked me if I wrote it trying to follow the trend of Rain’s “Gang,” but no. I was doing “1 day 1 Gang” before “Gang” came out. “Rainism” is a self-absorbed song. When you listen to it in the back seat of a bus, the bus feels like yours, and wherever you go, the world feels like yours. I saw it as similar to Yeorae’s moment of happiness. I’m grateful that singer Rain actively sang the song for us.

Jonathan is a common villain who forces things on others, and Yeorae is someone who lives following that. Fairy tales end with exchanging diamond rings and “They lived happily ever after.” I wanted to tell the story after that. I saw Bummoo as the purest man in the world. By the end, he’s the bravest person. The ostrich symbolizes the indigenous people living on the island.

=The sudden appearance of the ostrich was ingenious. Many people liked the fairy tale-like ending. What do you think?

I like animals. One day, a junior who runs an ostrich farm invited me, and I went. Suddenly, I wondered, “Why can’t ostriches fly?” At that moment, I started the film. Originally, I wanted to tell a story with birds flying in the sky. As the concept became clearer, I wanted to give a fairy tale feeling and symbolize immigrants and indigenous people who have lost their own things and are resentful and voiceless.

Twisting and Breaking to Feel Ecstasy

=How do you feel about the labels “the director is crazy” and “B-grade movie”?

Since I was young, I’ve been called a “weirdo” and “crazy,” but I tried not to harm others as much as possible. I like the non-mainstream. I learned film late but was deeply into movies from the ’60s and ’70s. It’s like breaking down class. Isn’t the fun of B-grade movies breaking down the noble and perfect? I think that’s the most beautiful thing in the world. I was kicked out of the American National Film Institute (AFI). But I was influenced by watching all kinds of movies in the library. I watched four films a day. After watching Strangers on a Train (1951) and Barbarella (1968), I was fascinated and even pitched to an online streaming service (OTT) company.

I don’t think I’m B-grade. I think there’s no B in the world. It’s fun to twist something and feel ecstasy from it. Killing Romance twisted all existing movie formulas. I wanted to show a person who can’t change and is stagnant being changed by someone else. There are many villains around me, and sometimes even villains I don’t want to succeed do well. My wife always says, “They’ll be punished later.” I want to believe that, but it seems like they’re living better. (Laughs)

Now I Can Talk About Man’s User Manual

Director Lee Won-seok [Photo by Lotte Entertainment]

=The scene in Man’s User Manual where Oh Jung-se runs naked still makes me laugh.

It was almost cut, but the PD fought to shoot it. The schedule ended early, so we saved time and rented a lighting crane to shoot it quickly. We were lucky. Killing Romance is that kind of film too. On the way to the Oscars, I grabbed Lee Sun-kyun, who came to refuse, and persuaded him like a “fly-by-night” (laughs). Then he won four Oscars. I thought he definitely wouldn’t do it, so I was surprised when he said yes.

=Oh Jung-se’s special appearance is really funny. Did he come willingly?

Oh Jung-se and I once talked about what Seung-jae would be doing 10 years later. But many viewers misunderstood the ending. Seung-jae wasn’t going to receive an award at the ceremony. The unfair part was Lee Si-young winning an award at the Cannes advertising festival, but it wasn’t well expressed. We talked about how Seung-jae might have lived off the director, failed a few movies, tried business, and failed again, maybe even a jjimjilbang (sauna) failed. I borrowed that for Killing Romance. Oh Jung-se came with his family despite his busy schedule and filmed all day. He acted so passionately that the outtakes are a shame. I’m really grateful.

=Following Oh Jung-se’s Seung-jae in Man’s User Manual, you cast a popular celebrity as the lead in Killing Romance. Is there a special reason?

The job itself is glamorous. The glamorous job is fun. Being a star isn’t a class, but their lives can seem bigger than reality. I think they’re fantasy characters. I didn’t deliberately choose them, but I get many scripts like that.

=If Man’s User Manual was born in 2023, it might have spawned a million memes. Some awkward scenes in Killing Romance are also impressive. How did you come up with them?

Most older brothers who say “Hey bro~” are like that. A very rich brother once gave me a ride in a sports car, and the passenger accidentally “door-dented” it, but he got out and was wiping it with his saliva. Another cool brother told me to get off at speed bumps. Those kinds of people. It’s fun to see the awkward sides of people who seem to have everything. School teaches us that movie lines are the opposite: they show the opposite of the image they want. People who say “Don’t worry” have many worries, and those who say “No grudges” have many grudges. I’m a bundle of complexes. I have all kinds of sides. Life is fun because of that.