'Ransom' director "Jin Seon-gyu, Jeon Jong-seo's acting and Jang Ryul's method acting"

Director Jeon Woo-sung of ‘Ransom’ praised the actors who performed well.

On the 4th, I met director and writer Jeon Woo-sung, Kwak Jae-min, and Choi Byeong-yoon of TV's original series 'Ransom' at a cafe in Sogyeok-dong, Seoul.

'Ransom' won the Best Screenplay award in the feature film competition at the closing ceremony of the 6th Cannes International Series Festival held at the Grand Theater Lumière in Cannes, France last month. As a result, 'Ransom' became the first Korean drama and the first domestic OTT original series to win the Cannes Series.

The production team praised each and every actor. Director Jeon said, "Jin Seon-gyu wanted to rehearse a lot. When choosing a project, he said it would be nice to have time to rehearse in the pre-production stage. I think he has accumulated a lot while preparing. Jin Seon-gyu is a hard worker and has done a lot of plays before. “I thought it fit this piece,” he said. He then laughed, saying, “It was my first time working with Jin Seon-gyu, but he showed many cute aspects in his daily life. I learned about things I didn’t know.”

Regarding Jeon Jong-seo, he said, "He wants to act with a raw feel. I rehearsed a lot, but when I started shooting on set, I felt overwhelmed by the energy he gave off. Good energy radiated out. It was surprising and fun." Regarding Jang Lu, he praised, "He is a hard worker. Among the main characters, I thought he seemed to use method acting. I was impressed and liked that he was always immersed in the character and asked a lot of questions."

In this series, writer Choi Byung-yoon also appeared as a gangster. Writer Choi has experience acting in plays. Director Jeon, who has always had a close relationship with writer Choi, joked, “We have always worked together and trusted him.” He then expressed his gratitude, saying, “The other actors also did a great job.”

'Ransom' is the story of three people who were bargaining over each other's 'ransom' and become trapped in a building that collapsed due to an earthquake, and each engages in a mad struggle to seize their last chance by making a dangerous deal. It depicts the desperate struggle of humans to survive in the chaos created by disconnection from the outside world.

The original work is a short film of the same name by director Lee Chung-hyun. The original story is about a middle-aged man who wants a virgin, enters a motel room with a high school girl and bargains over a flower stand. The TV series 'Ransom' is a plot that depicts what follows.

As of the first week of its release in October last year, 'Ransom' had the highest viewership UV among all TVing originals, and ranked first in the number of weekly paid subscriber contributors to TVING for two consecutive weeks. It received favorable reviews for its directing that capitalized on the unconventional nature of the original short film, immersive one-take filming, and the passionate performances of actors such as Jin Seon-gyu, Jeon Jong-seo, and Jang Ryul.

'Ransom' is a partnership between TVING and Paramount+, and will be released globally through Paramount+ this summer.

Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr