[Sportschosun’s Ahn So-yoon] Director Kim Mi-Jo expressed her deep affection for the film The Journey to Gyeongju.
Director Kim met with Sportschosun at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno District, Seoul, on the 19th and said, “Because the release date was not set, I had no choice but to spend two years on post-production.” She added, “I thought if I suffered now, I wouldn’t regret it later.”
The Journey to Gyeongju, which opens on the 26th, is a family revenge drama about four women who set out on a killing journey after an eight-year wait for their youngest daughter Gyeong-ju, who never returned from a school trip. It is Kim Mi-Jo’s first commercial film, following her debut feature The Seagull, which earned praise for its solid direction at major film festivals in Korea and abroad.
Reflecting on the film’s upcoming release, Kim said, “I first came up with this film in 2014. At the time, after a family trip, I really wanted to make a feature film based on this material.” She continued, “More than 10 years passed before the film was finally released, so I feel incredibly moved and happy. It feels like a dream come true.” She added, “Our film doesn’t have a particularly powerful story, and because it is a family story, I thought people might not like it very much. I wrote the screenplay because I wanted to see that kind of story, and when it actually won a competition, it felt like encouragement.”
As the youngest of four sisters in real life, Kim opened up and said, “I didn’t intentionally write The Journey to Gyeongju as a comedy. It was simply the life I had lived. My parents taught me that even in the most tragic situations, there is always room to laugh. For example, when I was young, I burned my foot and was left with a large scar. Even in summer, I wouldn’t wear sandals and would cover it up, no matter how hot it was. My eldest sister saw that and called me ‘tanbal,’ and I got very angry every time I heard it. But after hearing it since I was so young, I eventually came to accept it myself. After all, you can’t hide a burn once it’s there.”
She also said, “My third older sister was actually a professional wrestler.” She added, “She quit pro wrestling 15 years ago, so I drew on my experience of seeing her prepare for matches while making this film. My sister is also an actress, and she liked Lee Yeon’s performance as Dong-ju.”
She also spoke about the long post-production process, saying, “Because the release date was never set, I had no choice but to spend two years on post-production. I still have some regrets, but I didn’t want to regret it even more later. If I endure a little hardship now, I don’t think I’ll regret it 10 or 20 years from now. The staff even said, ‘Let’s not meet again in post-production for this film.'”
Ahn So-yoon, antahn22@sportschosun.com
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