“Why the sexual exploitation and childbirth scene?” We asked the director of “All Of Us Are Dead”
In a recent interview with Sports Kyunghyang, director Lee Jae-kyu answered various questions surrounding “All Of Us Are Dead.”
The OTT platform Netflix series “All Of Us Are Dead” is creating a syndrome around the world. Immediately after its release, the series topped the Netflix TV category worldwide chart, drawing praise calling it “the second Squid Game.“
However, there are also negative reviews. The main plot is about the story of students trying to escape from zombies, but provocative materials such as sexual assault and adolescent childbirth appear more than necessary. Director Lee Jae-kyu has addressed this matter.
“We had no intention of attracting viewers by simplifying the tragedy. We wanted the viewers to feel how cruel the action was through the story of a person who was more afraid of her illegal hidden camera being revealed than death. However, I am sorry as a director if it was not delivered as intended. We wanted the viewers to see the school as a small society where the characters think about what kind of person they are. It’s also the reason why we melted together various incidents and accidents that modern society is facing, such as the Ferry Sewol disaster and the collapse of Sampung Department Store.”
In a recent interview with Sports Kyunghyang, director Lee Jae-kyu answered various questions surrounding “All Of Us Are Dead.”
■Q1. The concept of half-zombie is unfamiliar to the audience. Is there a reason for you to introduce a concept that was not covered in the original?
In the play, Gwi-nam (Yoo In-soo) was bitten by zombies, but he did not turn into zombies and still preserved human nature, habits, and thinking systems. The same happened to Nam-ra (Jo Yi-hyun) and Eun-ji (Oh Hye-soo). This ‘half-zombie’ setting played a major role in forming a new axis of tension.
In the case of the current pandemic in real life, there are people who don’t get infected even if there are confirmed patients among dozens of people eating together in a small space. Some people develop it late after an incubation period. The same goes for half-zombies. Eun-ji and Gwi-nam can infect others as living immortals, but there is also a difference between them and Nam-ra in that she is an “immune” who has not lost her humanity and has not fully developed due to her antibody reactions. If Season 1 depicts the struggle to survive the zombie virus, I think it would be fun to draw the process of various zombies surviving in their own groups in the following season.
■Q2. Some say that zombie movies don’t go well with the romance genre. What do you think?
“All Of Us Are Dead” is a zombie series, but the story does not miss the romance between students. However, there are also sharp criticisms that romance does not melt well into zombie works.
For teenagers, love and friendship account for a large part of their lives. If we take out these two aspects, it’s not easy to talk about the story of teenagers. Also, I thought it would be exhausting if being chased by zombies was the only theme of the plot, and I thought that the problems of love and friendship could be a good subject for leading the story. There may be people who don’t find love among teenagers fun to watch, but I wanted to make a zombie story that more people could see than a zombie story that only horror enthusiasts see.
■Q3. From Yoon Chan-young to Yoo In-su…How did you find such fresh faces?
Casting was a divine move. Yoon Chan-young as Cheong-san, as well as a large number of other rookie actors such as Park Ji-hoo, Jo Yi-hyun, Romon, Yoo In-soo, and Lee Yoo-mi were cast to increase the immersion in their role.
I tried to choose the younger actors among the actors who are good at acting. I tried to find the actors who were the closest to the characters’ personalities. In fact, Yoon Chan-young is very careful and thinks hard before he speaks, which is similar to the character Cheong-san. I also saw an ensemble between the actors. Later, while practicing the script, everyone asked me, “Each character and their actor is so similar. Where did you find these friends?”
Meanwhile, “All Of Us Are Dead” can be found on Netflix.
