Kim Hee-won directs Korean drama “Light Shop” for the first time

Fans of Korean dramas may know actor Kim Hee-won from his various roles in dramas, such as My Love from the Star, Misaeng: An Incomplete Life, Angry Mom, The Ghost Comes, Touch Behind, Han River Police and Disney+ superhero dramas move.

This is the role move This led to his directorial debut being another Disney series lamp shopwhich, like move, Created by Kang Full, a popular Korean online cartoonist. For King, making such a career change didn’t come as a surprise.

“From the outside, it seemed very sudden,” King said, “but to me, I had always wanted and been preparing to be a director. Unexpectedly, I got a recommendation from the writer Confor, who I knew through I met through participating in the program. move. So, I think I was chosen to do this job, not that I chose to direct the series.

He agreed, at least in part because he was a fan of Comfort and wanted to help his new work succeed.

“I imagine how lamp shop What kind of reception would it receive if it were made public, what kind of impression would it leave on people,” Kim said. “These are things I considered before I wanted to be involved in this project. For me, Confor’s work has always been full of humanity and left people imagining more.

exist lamp shop A group of lost souls are drawn to a mysterious lamp shop located in a dark alley. These souls seek answers. And most importantly, am I still alive? Some tourists appear to be still alive. Others don’t. Some talk to the mysterious shop owner played by Joo Ji-hoon. He wears sunglasses at night and knows a thing or two about ghosts.

Delivering on the promise of this soulful ghost story requires a deft touch that raises enough questions in each episode to leave viewers hungry for answers, just like the characters wandering the lamp shop. The first-time director does an excellent job of creating an engrossing and mysterious atmosphere.

“Honestly, since this was my first time directing, nothing was easy for me.”

While he wants to present a play worthy of Cornful’s work, this sense of responsibility doesn’t weigh him down.

“Working with writer Confor brought me great joy,” King said. “So, I really don’t feel a lot of pressure.”

An important part of bringing the story to life is assembling a diverse and talented cast. In addition to Zhu, Park Bo Young also plays a nurse who can see souls in the drama.

“I have worked with many actors in the past, including Joo Ji-hoon and Park Bo-young,” Kim said. “It was an amazing experience to work with an actor I’ve always admired, and even though this time we met as a director and actor rather than as actors, nothing really changed for me. Because our acting philosophies and values ​​overlap, So I was happy to shoot with them.

The cast also includes Kim Seol-hyun (summer strike), Yan Taijiu (my sweet gangster)Kim Min Ha (pinball machine), Lee Jung-eun (trunk)Pei Chengyou (timeHis 8 show), Kim Sun Hwa (Hagwon’s Midnight Romance), Shin Eun-soo (flashing watermelon) and Park Hyuk-won (Uncle Three Foods). Not every actor was chosen to match the original character, but some were certainly chosen for that purpose.

“Because our actors have similar visions of what we do, casting was not difficult at all,” King said. “We’ve built a trust over a long time, and the cast has a strong trust in the writers, and I feel a lot of support.”

Kim and Kang Full worked together to achieve the look and feel of the show. Sometimes this means acting out certain scenes, other times it involves drawing and editing storyboards as needed. They discussed details such as the sunglasses Zhu suspiciously wore at night.

“The sunglasses were Kang Full’s idea,” Kim said. “But when I totally agreed, it became a reality.”

storyline lamp shop There are souls involved with unresolved issues, but also those who can see those issues. King wasn’t sure how he really felt about the ghost. It’s possible they exist.

“Personally, I find it interesting because I can neither believe it nor deny it,” he said. “Because sometimes I still want to know the existence of people between life and death.”

There are many wonderful scenes in it lamp shop But King can pick two favorites, both crucial to the plot.

“Every scene is striking though, especially the long take at the end of episode four and the bus accident scene in episode five,” Kim said. “I remember the whole crew rehearsed multiple times to pull it off with less effort.”

lamp shop Streaming on Disney+ internationally and Hulu in the US