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| Onda Works CEO Im Eun-jung of The Man Who Lives with the King / Photo: Courtesy of Showbox |
On the 11th, Lim Si-ryeong met Im at a café in Seoul’s Jongno district to discuss the film directed by Jang Hang-jun.
Set in 1457 at Cheongryeongpo, The Man Who Lives with the King follows village headman Eom Heung-do (Yoo Hae-jin), who willingly accepts exile to revive his village, and the young deposed monarch Yi Hong-wi (Park Ji-hoon).
Onda Works, founded by former CJ ENM executive Im Eun-jung, co-produced the film with B.A. Entertainment, led by Jang Won-seok of The Outlaws series.
The film crossed the 10 million admissions mark, becoming the 34th Korean title to do so and arriving two years after The Outlaws 4 reached the milestone. Despite that box-office success, audiences criticized the tiger’s CGI, and the production has said it plans to revisit those shots.
Im disarmed the room with a blunt assessment of the film’s shortcomings, saying, \"If we’d known we were going to hit 10 million...\" — a line that drew laughter.
She recalled, \"Two months before we went into production, our production designer asked to talk. So we had a dinner with the director, department heads and CEO Jang. During pre-production, each department naturally pushed for more. I, too, wanted to give them everything.\"
Im continued, \"I’ve always had these conversations with distributors. Of course I wanted a more polished, visually richer film. But I also felt a strong responsibility to foster a healthy circulation in the Korean film industry. I hoped people would understand that. In hindsight, if we’d known we’d reach 10 million, we might have spent more — but that’s always the hindsight trap. Ultimately, everyone agreed to pursue the most balanced approach.\"
Asked whether the CGI sequences are being revised, she said a final decision hadn’t been made but called the audience response \"an opportunity.\" \"Many viewers pointed it out, and we discussed the necessity with our distributor. It’s turned into a meme, but honestly, it’s a fortunate chance,\" she added.
[Sports Today reporter Lim Si-ryeong ent@stoo.com]
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