TV
'Ransom' director Jeon Woo-sung becomes the first Korean OTT to win the Cannes Series
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.
Director Jeon said, "I had a schedule to travel to Europe, but I suddenly found out (about the Cannes Series nominations) and changed my schedule. It was nice to be able to go to the Cannes Series Festival. It's only been a few days since I finished my schedule and went on a trip, so I haven't gotten over my travel fatigue yet. "he said. When asked if he expected to win the award, director Jeon said, "I didn't know. I heard they usually give the announcement the day before, so I thought I might not receive the award. When I went to the awards ceremony, there was someone in the front row who received the actor award. “I was surprised,” he remembered at the time.
‘Ransom’ was screened locally and received a good response. Director Jeon said, "I was grateful and happy (that it was screened) because the theater itself was a good theater. Seeing that they actually got the standing ovation I had only heard about, I thought there was a lot of interest." Regarding the reaction of the original author and director Lee Chung-hyeon, he said, "He liked it when it was produced and enjoyed watching it. He congratulated and chatted every time various events occurred. He also congratulated him on this award and said he was very happy."
Writers Kwak and Choi did not attend the awards ceremony. Writer Choi remembered the day of the award, saying, "I was in Korea, and I got a call in the morning, a KakaoTalk message, and I couldn't believe it at all. I just received a call and it was a 'surprise' all day long." Writer Kwak also sympathized, saying, “I received calls all day long.”
When asked about the actors' reaction, Director Jeon said, "They were happy and liked them. They had a lot of schedules, so they went back to Korea in advance, but there was an uproar in the KakaoTalk room. They said they were amazed and happy. They also said they were happy and thankful. They haven't yet returned from my trip. “It won’t be long before we have a chance to sit down with the actors,” he said.
When asked how the after-party was, Director Jeon said, "I thought about my acceptance speech because I didn't know what would happen. I hoped that the time of going up on stage and giving my speech would pass quickly. My heart was pounding. I looked as calm as possible. “I tried to show it. Fortunately, I think it went well,” he said, recalling the time when he won the award. He continued, "At the after-party, our team had a company dinner and went to a cocktail party, where we met and interacted with other award-winning teams. It was an interesting and fun night. I met a few people I got to interact with, and I'm looking forward to talking about each other's works." He said.
'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-hyeon. 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.
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
