Director owns up to box office flop

Kang Je-gyu

Director Kang Je-gyu said he had only himself to blame for the flop of last year’s movie “My Way,” which cost a whopping 30 billion won ($27 million) to make.

At a Korean film seminar on Monday at Emory University in Atlanta, Kang said he really should have probed more people for their input.

The 49-year-old said that because his cast and crew were intimidated by his fame, no one dared to challenge his ideas. “So I made every decision, and this was why the film did so poorly,” he said.

Kang said he should have had at least 100 people read the script, adding he had “lost his touch” being in the industry for some 16 odd years.

Having said all that, Kang added that the film’s genre was probably not interesting to the general public despite featuring Jang Dong-gun.

“Blockbusters are centered on themes that appeal to the public, and a friendship between a Korean and a Japanese man during the colonial rule probably appeals to a handful of people,” said Kang.

By Carla Sunwoo