Yoo Ah-in's content controversy, "It was re-edited, but there was no significant difference."

“Although it was re-edited, the length does not deviate significantly from the existing script.”

Director Kim Jin-min, who met with Ten Asia at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 3rd, said this about Yoo Ah-in, who is accused of habitual drug use, about his appearance in 'The Fool of the End'. Before the release, he said, "It is our duty to minimize viewers' inconvenience, so we edited out anything that could cause inconvenience. We worked very hard to convince them," but after the release, he said, "It didn't change much." He also said, "It is not a work that will be criticized. I was confident that I made it without being embarrassed," but in reality, it is suffering from 'harsh criticism'.

The Netflix original series 'The Fool of the End' is a Netflix series that depicts the story of the D-200, an asteroid collision with the Earth, a world in chaos due to the imminent apocalypse, and the story of people who live today together until the end. It is based on a novel by Japanese author Kotaro Isaka.

Director Kim Jin-min spoke honestly about the harsh criticism that poured in after the release of 'Fool of the End'. He said, "I think there are quite a few reactions saying that the drama is more difficult than expected and that it's confusing. It's not that I didn't expect it at all. I think my efforts were a little lacking."

He continued, "There were many responses saying that it was not the dystopia work that was expected. This work seems to have been different from expectations because it tells a different story from existing dystopia works, and it seems to be a conflict due to different perspectives on the work." He added, "If you were trying to fight for survival, It wouldn't have been made like this, rather than making a drama where the main character or group would constantly struggle and survive, it would have looked into the times and choices of the remaining people and focused on whether they could assimilate. “I’m sorry if I was expecting this to show up,” he added.

In the original work, it was assumed that the entire Earth would be annihilated, while 'The Fool of the End' was based on the assumption that the Korean Peninsula and specific regions would come to an end. When asked about the reason for this difference, director Kim Jin-min said, "The writer briefly said, 'What kind of drama will there be if everyone dies?' If everyone dies, isn't there a need for a struggle for survival?" “Because I was trying to revive it, I thought it might be confusing because it was a time and space that had never been dealt with before, but I think the unfamiliarity of seeing it for the first time played a big role.”

Regarding the reason for choosing a long run of 12 episodes, he said, "For fun, you can make it short and quick with a focus on events. However, I thought that would miss out on a lot of the reason the author wrote this. It was to look at the remaining lives of those who remained, but focus on events. “It had to be a heroic story, so it revealed more than what was actually filmed, regardless of who it was.”

To solve this difficult problem, I edited ‘The Fool of the End’ more than 20 times. He said, "I edited it dozens of times to prevent it from becoming complicated. I also changed the editing a lot afterwards. I continued to reflect feedback. It was the most difficult and time-consuming work I've directed."

It was revealed that 'Fool of the End' had re-edited the parts of Yoo Ah-in, who caused controversy due to allegations of 'drug use' before its release. However, Yoo Ah-in's role in the released 'Fool of the End' is so significant that one wonders if it was right to cut it out. In response, director Kim Jin-min said, "Although we did make adjustments, the currently released portion of Yoo Ah-in did not deviate significantly from the script. Since there are many characters, if Ain's role is omitted, the story will be shaken, so it is true that we took the parts that could be taken." He said.

When asked if he received a call from Yoo Ah-in after the release, director Kim Jin-min laughed and said, "We exchanged text messages before the release. After the release, I'm sure we'll get in touch at some point." Regarding the apology contact after the drug use issue broke out, he said, "Because he is not a person without responsibility. I know he communicated it in various ways. He also spoke to me personally."

What kind of person is Yoo Ah-in as an ‘actor’? Director Kim Jin-min said, "He is a very good actor. As a director, there are times when he has homework to do on set, and when Yoo Ah-in says, 'I don't know,' there are quite a few moments where he smiles and says, 'I'll give it a try.' “I felt that he was not a star. As an actor, I would like to say that I respect Yoo Ah-in and he is a very talented actor.”

“Ain’s attitude towards Eunjin was also excellent. I think Eunjin received a lot of help. As an actor, I think Yoo Ah-in did his job well.”

He also did not spare praise for Ahn Eun-jin. Director Kim Jin-min said, "He did as well as I expected, and there were more things he did better than I thought. He was an actor with a very strong base who showed a lot of different sides to standard acting. He is an actor who doesn't seem to break down no matter what role he is given." “He was such a flexible actor that I thought there was no role he couldn’t do, so I thought the future would be much more interesting.”

Even better than Yoo Ah-in, Ahn Eun-jin and coach Kim Jin-min were the ‘1st picks’. He said, "I went to Ahn Eun-jin's agency and asked for Eun-jin. It was close to instinct. I felt that she was an actor who was not afraid. I thought she had enough energy and had a variety of expressions. What this drama needs is realism, and the various aspects of the actor themselves are realistic. “It fulfilled my feeling that it might be that person,” he explained.

“Regrets? I’ve never worked this hard while making a work. I did my best. If there’s anything that’s worse than this, it’s just my ability. There’s nothing I didn’t know I could do. It got to the point where when I woke up, all I could think about was this drama. It was me. “It’s been a long time since I had a drama that dominated.”

Taeyuna, Ten Asia Reporter youyou@tenasia.co.kr