‘Ballerina’ Director Lee Chung-hyun, “It’s A Revenge For All Sexual Exploitation Cases, Not Only Burning Sun”
Director Lee Chung-hyun explained his reference to sexual crimes in the movie “Ballerina”
On the morning of October 11th, director Lee Chung-hyun had an interview about Netflix’s new movie “Ballerina” at a cafe in Jongno-gu, Seoul. “Ballerina” is an action revenge film about former bodyguard Ok-ju (Jeon Jong-seo) hunting down Choi Pro (Kim Ji-hoon), who causes the death of her precious friend Min-hee (Park Yu-rim).
Released on the 6th, “Ballerina” entered Top 10 in 62 countries within three days of its release. In this regard, director Lee said, “I have a group chat with the actors and we checked the ranking together. I think many overseas viewers are enjoying the movie. I’m very grateful for that”, adding “It’s such a relief. I didn’t expect it to rank this high.”
Regarding the divided responses about the movie, the director said, “I’ve read some reviews and some Korean viewers expressed regrets. We discussed possible issues so I could fully understand and accept all the feedback”, adding “I think maybe it’s because the style of this movie is quite intense. But it seems like the likes and dislikes are more divided than I thought”.
Many viewers pointed out that the lines in “Ballerina” reminded them of various sexual exploitation cases, such as Seungri and Jung Joon-young’s Burning Sun Scandal, the Nth Room case, etc. In this regard, director Lee Chung-hyun shared, “I don’t think I referred to only one case. I thought of many cases like that when writing the scenario. I think such incidents happen not only in Korea but also in other countries”, adding “There are many forms of revenge, but I think I’ve never seen any revenge movie about sex crimes or sex exploitation of women”.
Regarding Choi Pro, who produces illegal videos, the director explained, “He doesn’t consider women not as persons but rather as objects. Looking at Choi Pro’s house, you will see many artworks there, and I thought about Ok-joo taking revenge and punishing the man who mistreats women there”.
Looking back on how he started his career as a movie director, Lee Chung-hyun said, “I don’t know why, but whenever I created a story, it often started with a woman, not a man. I have two younger sisters and I think that might have influenced me in many ways”, adding “I will constantly write narratives about women and develop my skills.”
Source: Nate
