On-set stories about how director Lee Chang-dong wears down even really great actors
Lee Chang-dong’s demanding directing style is being revisited through stories involving Sol Kyung-gu, Moon So-ri, and Jeon Do-yeon.
↑ The legendary scene from Peppermint Candy with Sol Kyung-gu yelling “I want to go back!” Even people who don’t know director Lee Chang-dong know this scene
They put Sol Kyung-gu on the train tracks to film it, but the train didn’t stop even when it was so close that it should’ve been time to stop
So the shot captured his genuine look of horror... To this day, Sol Kyung-gu regularly names it as one of the hardest projects he’s ever worked on
A Moon So-ri story from filming Oasis
- They filmed the rape scene over a dozen times, but Lee Chang-dong kept saying it was too weak and making them redo it
Moon So-ri was nearly unconscious, but Lee Chang-dong asked for one more take. She went to the hospital that night, got a glucose injection, slept for 3 hours, and came back, only to be sent away because they weren’t ready
Something Moon So-ri wrote
(Moon So-ri’s character is disabled, and there’s a scene where she’s raped)
A Sol Kyung-gu story from filming Oasis
- Lee Chang-dong yelled cut, so Sol Kyung-gu asked what was wrong, and Lee said, “I cut because the tarp fluttering in the background had no emotion”
- Something Ryoo Seung-wan mentioned about the Oasis shoot
“Express it through your own emotions.” Lee Chang-dong demonstrated it personally and actually hit Sol Kyung-gu.
I was so startled I went, “Ack!” but Kyung-gu hyung was unfazed. “He’s always been a pervert.” The atmosphere on set then was like emotions suddenly exploding after taking drugs.
Lee Chang-dong’s directing style is to call cut endlessly and then give these weird instructions
The actor filming with him has no idea what’s wrong, the director doesn’t properly explain it, and they have to redo it dozens of times,
then afterward Lee Chang-dong reluctantly calls it OK while saying, “What more could possibly come out of it?” It’s enough to drive you insane.
“No matter how much you hit and kick him, in the end he watches his owner’s mood, creeps back over, and wags his tail. That’s Hong Jong-du.”
↑ What Lee Chang-dong asked Sol Kyung-gu to portray during Oasis
The story about Jeon Do-yeon declaring for the first time since her debut that she was giving up on filming while making Secret Sunshine is also famous
10 comments · 10 from TheQoo
I’ve seen interviews as recently as lately where actors said they really respect him. Sol Kyung-gu said he wants to work with him again, Jeon Do-yeon said the same, and Moon So-ri says she’s still learning from him. Art really is complicated T_T
I still don’t understand why Jun Jong-seo had to be stripped down like that in Burning. It was completely through the male gaze from beginning to end, and it honestly made me sick
Huh? How old are these stories...? This was nearly 30 years ago. Honestly, there were worse directors back then. Even just 10 years ago, the French director of the Cannes Grand Prix winner Blue Is the Warmest Color made Léa Seydoux film a sex scene for 7-8 hours