Actors Song and Han to portray Joseon's King Yeongjo in upcoming drama and film
By Baek Byung-yeul
A king puts his son to death by imprisoning him into wooden rice chest for eight days, and an 11-year-old grandson witnesses the death of his father who is suffering a mental illness. He later succeeds to the throne following his grandfather and holds an eight-day-long parade to cherish the memory of his deceased father.
The seemingly fanciful story actually happened about 250 years ago when the Korean Peninsula was under the rule of Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). Also it is probably one of the most familiar historic events for Koreans as numerous dramas and films continuously have shed light on it.
For example, in the recent past there were MBC TV's 2008 drama "Yi San" and "The Fatal Encounter," a movie released this year. Both focused on the grandson, King Jeongjo and enjoyed tremendous popularity.
And this fall, historical drama fans will be aroused again as two works reproducing this tragic story are ready to meet fans through small and big screens, starring renowned actors Song Kang-ho, 47, and Han Suk-kyu, 49, as the grandfather, King Yeongjo.
Song, arguably one of the country's most influential actors with a slew of hits, will portray King Yeongjo in upcoming film, "Sado." As Song's counterpart, actor Yoo Ah-in, 27, will feature as his son, crown prince Sado.
The Film's director Lee Jun-ik, who's best known for "King And The Clown" (2005) and "Hope" (2013), said that he will "revisit the historic incident in a new way."
"The historic figures cannot exist alone. We cannot exclude King Yeongjo when explaining about crown prince Sado and vise versa. With Sado as the main subject, my film will take an unconventional approach in explaining why the king had to put his son to death," Lee said to reporters after finishing the first day of the shooting in Namwon, North Jeolla Province. "Sado" will be released later this year.
Before the premiere of "Sado," fans will meet another actor playing King Yeongjo in September.
Han, who overwhelmed cinema scene in 1990's with numerous hits such as "The Ginko Bed" (1996), "Christmas in August" (1998) and "Swiri" (1999), will feature as King Yeongjo in SBS TV's drama, "Secret Door."
Expectation toward Han is higher than ever as he already wowed the audiences in 2011 SBS drama, "Deep Rooted Tree," in which he showed outstanding performance by playing King Sejong, Joseon's fourth king and inventor of the Korean alphabet, "Hangeul."
Actor Lee Je-hoon, 30, who will be discharged from the Army this month, will take a role of Sado. He performed together with Han, as a student and a teacher in 2012 film, "My Paparotti."
SBS said the upcoming drama will "more pay attention to the conflicted relationship of father and son, not the death of son."
Culture critic Bae Kook-nam said that the reason why more historic periods have kept shedding light on this historical event is that it has an "overwhelming storyline."
"This is one of the most widely known histories, even to an elementary student. With the ease of accessibility as a base, creators can have room to shape this into interesting story more easily than other historic events," Bae said.
Bae added that it would be interesting for fans to compare upcoming drama and film with previous works.
"The forthcoming works take a different direction from the past historical pieces, dealing with crown prince Sado because both claim that they will attempt to reinterpret King Yeongjo.
"King Yeongjo has usually been depicted as a cruel-hearted father, who made his son starve to death in many dramas," the critic said.
"But historians say the incident of Sado's death was intertwined with complex partisan interests so that even the king couldn't untangle. When it comes to reinterpreting King Yeongjo and crown prince Sado story in a different way, there will be a higher chance to attract more interest from the audiences, and this could be another reason why creators keep trying to reproduce," he added.
.jpg/dims/resize/740/optimize) |
| Actor Song Kang-ho in a scene from 2013 film, "The Face Reader" / Korea Times files |
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| Actor Han Suk-kyu in a scene from 2011 SBS TV drama, "Deep Rooted Tree" |
A king puts his son to death by imprisoning him into wooden rice chest for eight days, and an 11-year-old grandson witnesses the death of his father who is suffering a mental illness. He later succeeds to the throne following his grandfather and holds an eight-day-long parade to cherish the memory of his deceased father.
The seemingly fanciful story actually happened about 250 years ago when the Korean Peninsula was under the rule of Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). Also it is probably one of the most familiar historic events for Koreans as numerous dramas and films continuously have shed light on it.
For example, in the recent past there were MBC TV's 2008 drama "Yi San" and "The Fatal Encounter," a movie released this year. Both focused on the grandson, King Jeongjo and enjoyed tremendous popularity.
And this fall, historical drama fans will be aroused again as two works reproducing this tragic story are ready to meet fans through small and big screens, starring renowned actors Song Kang-ho, 47, and Han Suk-kyu, 49, as the grandfather, King Yeongjo.
Song, arguably one of the country's most influential actors with a slew of hits, will portray King Yeongjo in upcoming film, "Sado." As Song's counterpart, actor Yoo Ah-in, 27, will feature as his son, crown prince Sado.
The Film's director Lee Jun-ik, who's best known for "King And The Clown" (2005) and "Hope" (2013), said that he will "revisit the historic incident in a new way."
"The historic figures cannot exist alone. We cannot exclude King Yeongjo when explaining about crown prince Sado and vise versa. With Sado as the main subject, my film will take an unconventional approach in explaining why the king had to put his son to death," Lee said to reporters after finishing the first day of the shooting in Namwon, North Jeolla Province. "Sado" will be released later this year.
Before the premiere of "Sado," fans will meet another actor playing King Yeongjo in September.
Han, who overwhelmed cinema scene in 1990's with numerous hits such as "The Ginko Bed" (1996), "Christmas in August" (1998) and "Swiri" (1999), will feature as King Yeongjo in SBS TV's drama, "Secret Door."
Expectation toward Han is higher than ever as he already wowed the audiences in 2011 SBS drama, "Deep Rooted Tree," in which he showed outstanding performance by playing King Sejong, Joseon's fourth king and inventor of the Korean alphabet, "Hangeul."
Actor Lee Je-hoon, 30, who will be discharged from the Army this month, will take a role of Sado. He performed together with Han, as a student and a teacher in 2012 film, "My Paparotti."
SBS said the upcoming drama will "more pay attention to the conflicted relationship of father and son, not the death of son."
Culture critic Bae Kook-nam said that the reason why more historic periods have kept shedding light on this historical event is that it has an "overwhelming storyline."
"This is one of the most widely known histories, even to an elementary student. With the ease of accessibility as a base, creators can have room to shape this into interesting story more easily than other historic events," Bae said.
Bae added that it would be interesting for fans to compare upcoming drama and film with previous works.
"The forthcoming works take a different direction from the past historical pieces, dealing with crown prince Sado because both claim that they will attempt to reinterpret King Yeongjo.
"King Yeongjo has usually been depicted as a cruel-hearted father, who made his son starve to death in many dramas," the critic said.
"But historians say the incident of Sado's death was intertwined with complex partisan interests so that even the king couldn't untangle. When it comes to reinterpreting King Yeongjo and crown prince Sado story in a different way, there will be a higher chance to attract more interest from the audiences, and this could be another reason why creators keep trying to reproduce," he added.
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