"The King of Kings" successfully wrapped up its press preview.
On the afternoon of 2nd, a media distribution preview and meeting for the film "The King of Kings" (director Jang Seong-ho, produced by Mopax Studio, distributed by Distation, co-distributed by Cites) was held at CGV Yongsan I-Park Mall located in Yongsan District, Seoul.
"The King of Kings" is a global box office hit Korean animated film that depicts the journey of the outstanding British author Charles Dickens and his youngest son Walter into the greatest story 2000 years ago. During the preview and meeting, director Jang Seong-ho, who was in charge of the script and direction, attended and shared various stories about the project, including the planning background targeting the North American market, actor casting, and production process, raising expectations for the film.
Regarding the success factors in North America, director Jang Seong-ho noted, "We had to achieve a Hollywood-level quality while also having a familiar original story that could appeal to the American market," and added, "The character 'Jesus' was chosen because he is the person who has impacted human history the most, regardless of faith, and has never been treated as the protagonist in feature-length animated films."
He then explained, "Since this story centers around the universal emotion of love, there was a point that everyone could resonate with," addressing reasons for the positive reception from North American audiences. On the technical aspects of the new challenge, he stated, "We built a virtual production platform together with cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung and operated the camera like actual movie shooting. Through real-time simulation based on Unreal Engine, we were able to achieve cinematic visual beauty."
He also mentioned the Hollywood production team he worked with. "Jamie Thomasin, who worked as a casting director at Disney for 16 years, joined us and a great casting was completed," he said, adding, "The sound work for the Korean and U.S. dubbed versions was carried out over the course of a month by an Australian team that worked on projects like 'Furiosa: Mad Max Saga.' I confidently believe this will be one of the best quality works among domestic animations to date."
He also spoke about the participation of domestic actors. He noted, "Although Lee Byung-hun is not a Christian, he deeply empathized with the story of the character Jesus and expressed the emotional connection with the character excellently." Regarding Lee Ha-nee, who played the role of 'Catherine Dickens', he stated, "Thanks to her rich tone, the character was completed three-dimensionally." He praised Jin Sun-kyu, who took on the role of 'Jesus', saying, "Thanks to his clear and bright voice and solid vocalization as a theater actor, a character was born that completely breaks the existing preconceived notions." Finally, director Jang Seong-ho concluded the meeting by stating, "The King of Kings" is a work that has gone through a challenging journey to come into the world. I hope many people join us on this journey."
"The King of Kings" will be released nationwide in theaters on the 16th.
[Photo] Provided by Distation.
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