Interview with director Byun Seong-hyeon of ‘Gil Bok-soon’
On the 6th, director Byun Seong-hyun expressed his position on the 'Ilbe' (abbreviation for extreme right-wing community site Daily Best) controversy that arose regarding the Netflix movie 'Gilbok-soon' at a cafe in Sogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
On this day, Director Byun said, "I received a call from the staff. I had been misunderstood in the past regarding 'The Scoundrel'. Rather than saying it was a misunderstanding, I definitely made a mistake with my words at the time and that kind of thing, so I was very embarrassed when I received the call. After looking up the scene, I was even more embarrassed. "I was embarrassed. I had no intention of doing so and was embarrassed. I felt sorry for the people I worked with and felt unfair to myself. I thought, 'How can the story go like this?'" he said.
He continued, "In my worldview, there were grades E and F," and added, "Grades C, D, and E were limited to domestic works. I had no idea about the region written there. I don't confirm that one by one. The art director and production staff told me “He was so sorry,” he said. “I said to the art director, ‘Why did you choose Jeolla-do? Why didn’t you use the Chungcheong-do budget?’ The art director’s hometown is the Chungcheong-do budget. He was very sorry, so I told him that.”
He continued, "I was so anxious that people called me, but I didn't answer. People thought I was angry. It wasn't that I was angry, but I was anxious. I just wanted to stay at home, and I just talked on the phone since yesterday and said I was sorry and told me not to worry. “I actually thought that if it weren’t for me, there wouldn’t have been any controversy,” he added.
When asked about sending an apology text message to Jeon Do-yeon, Director Byun said, "I felt like I had caused trouble regardless of my intentions. My senior gave me a tremendous challenge, but I thought, 'Am I going to make that challenge in vain?' “I thought about it, so I contacted you to apologize,” he said.
Director Byun then said, "I didn't intend to do that, and I've lived my whole life thinking that I was a person who was almost on the opposite side of the political spectrum, but I keep getting caught up in it." He added, "The last movie was about my critical perspective on local feelings, but this 'Gil Bok-soon' ' deals with contradictions. 'Are you following the movie?' He apologized again, saying, "I personally felt guilty. I didn't mean to do that, but I felt sorry."
In addition, one of the reasons why Ilbe claimed that Gwanggaeto the Great, Eulji Mundeok, Kim Gu, and Ahn Jung-geun, who were mentioned as people included in the 100,000 won note, was said to have ‘killed people.’
Regarding this, Netflix said, "A-level killers like Gil Bok-soon also receive global work, so their nationality is indicated as 'Vladivostok-Russia' or 'Seoul-Korea', while C-level killers like Han Hee-seong only do domestic work, so their nationality is not indicated. “It is displayed by region,” he said. “It is a setting to show the difference in work size by killer level, and there is no political intention or reason.”
Director Byun Seong-hyun was embroiled in the Ilbe controversy by posting remarks on social media at the time of the release of the movie 'Bad Guy: World of Bad Guys', such as "Eat skate before your date, you will get drunk from the scent" and "This is all because of Mr. Moon." Afterwards, Director Byun apologized through his SNS and explained, "I am by no means regionalist or feminist. My hometown is Jeolla-do, and I most hate people who degrade specific regions and women."
Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr