| A poster of director Hur Jin-ho's new melodrama, “Lost,” left, and director Hwang Dong-hyuk's Netflix series, “Squid Game” / Courtesy of JTBC and Netflix |
By Lee Gyu-lee
A growing number of filmmakers are choosing to direct dramas on the small screen due to the expansion of Over The Top (OTT) services resulting from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the movie industry.
Director Hur Jin-ho, who is known for leading romance films “Christmas in August” and period film “Forbidden Dream,” made his TV directorial debut with JTBC's new melodrama, “Lost,” which started its run, Saturday.
The melodrama, starring Cannes award-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon and actor Ryu Jun-yeol, got off to a good start with a 4.2 percent viewership rating. It follows the story of two ordinary people who feel adrift in life and encounter each other making their lives better.
The director revealed that he had not expected to direct a TV series.
“I changed my mind to work up the courage to make it after reading such a good script… unlike movies, which start production after the script is completed, dramas start shooting as the script is still being written,” Hur said during the series' press conference, last week.
“So, there were feelings of curiosity and frustration from time to time. Even though it literally felt like making three to four films, it was worth it," he added.
Other star directors ― such as “Miss Granny” and “Silenced” director Hwang Dong-hyuk, “Nameless Gangster” and "Kundo" director Yoon Jong-bin and “Coin Locker Girl” and “Hit-And-Run Squad” director Han Jun-hee ― are taking their first stab at helming a series with Netflix.
| A scene from Netflix's original series “D.P.,” directed by Han Jun-hee / Courtesy of Netflix |
Hwang's upcoming series, “Squid Game,” which is one of this year's most anticipated series, will hit the streaming site on Sept. 17.
The suspense action series, starring Lee Jung-jae and Park Hae-soo, is about a deadly high stakes round of children's games that invite cash-strapped players to play life-or-death challenges for an enormous prize.
Yoon is helming a star-studded cast series, “Suriname,” which stars Ha Jung-woo, Hwang Jung-min, and Yoo Yeon-seok. The crime series, based on a true story, revolves around a man who rose to become a drug lord in Suriname, a former Dutch colony on the northern coast of South America.
Han launched “D.P.” on Aug. 27, topping Netflix's top 10 list for about a week. The dark drama, starring Jung Hae-in and Koo Kyo-hwan, follows a young private in the military who is assigned to capture deserting soldiers and encounters the painful reality behind compulsory military duty.
Director Yeon Sang-ho, who won global fame through zombie flicks “Train to Busan” and “Peninsula,” will be releasing his second series, “Hellbound,” since his first drama, “The Cursed,” last year.
The fantasy thriller series is the drama adaptation of the web-comic of the same name, co-created by Yeon and Choi Gyu-seok in 2019. It tells the story of a chaotic society where supernatural beings make judgments to condemn people to hell. A group of people ― played by Yoo Ah-in and Park Jeong-min ― try to fight against a religious group that follows the supernatural beings as their divine deity.