“Dream” Director Lee Byung Heon Shares Honest Stories About Casting Kim Woo Bin in “Twenty” and Box Office Success of “Extreme Job”
Director Lee Byung Heon made a guest appearance on the 190th episode of tvN’s entertainment show “You Quiz on the Block” aired on April 19.
Director Lee Byung Heon gained fame by directing successful movies such as “Twenty” and “Extreme Job.” The highly-anticipated movie “Dream,” starring IU and Park Seo Joon, scheduled to be released on April 26, is also directed by Lee Byung Heon.
Director Lee Byung Heon said that he had been preparing for “Dream” for 11 years and said, “It was a work that was once canceled. Because it was a story about homeless people playing soccer, there was some prejudice. Since it was not military soccer but homeless soccer, I didn’t expect many people to reject it. But I received more rejections for this work than for any other work.“
Director Lee Byung Heon then mentioned the movie “Twenty.” He said about actor Kim Woo Bin, “When we were casting, Woo Bin was a rising star. When the script reached the middle, ‘The Heirs’ came out, and the production company and I had to make a hasty call to him. He was so busy that I said, ‘I’ll cast him even when he pretends to be crazy.’ Fortunately, he enjoyed it.”
Director Lee also revealed that the character played by Kim Woo Bin in the movie, an unemployed person, was similar to himself, and he had worked as a newspaper deliveryman, sock seller, construction worker, among others.
Director Lee Byung Heon then talked about “Extreme Job.” He said about the box office success, “I didn’t expect it to reach this far. The break-even point was 2.2 million, so I joked about it at a drinking party. ‘It’s a wrong phenomenon that our movie has this many viewers in a market of this size in Korea. It’s scary.’ It didn’t stop after exceeding 12 million.”
The production cost of “Extreme Job” was 6.5 billion won, and the cumulative box office revenue was 139.6 billion won, making it the highest-grossing domestic film ever.
Director Lee Byung Heon also revealed the changes in his life that followed, saying, “I didn’t have a car, but I got one (after ‘Extreme Job’ hit big). It goes ‘vroom.’“
Source: Daum.
