Kim Hee-won opened up about his thoughts on being interviewed as a director through ‘The Lighting Store’.

On the afternoon of the 20th, at a cafe in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Kim Hee-won, director of the Disney+ series ‘The Lighting Store’, met with Donga.com for an interview and talked about the work.

On this day, regarding his thoughts on being interviewed as a director and not an actor, Kim Hee-won said, “When acting is over, I feel ‘Ah, it‘s refreshing’, but as a director, I still get nervous and have emotional ups and downs throughout the day. When I made the final delivery to Disney+, I panicked a little. It’s different from interviews when I‘m an actor. I think I need to be careful with what I say now”.

When asked about the reason he was offered to direct ‘The Lighting Store’, Kim Hee-won said, “Writer (Kang Pool) made the offer. I asked why he made the offer to me when I hadn’t done anything. When I was doing ‘Moving’, I didn‘t have superpowers. So I thought I would die if I fought someone with superpowers. I said that I would have to establish the presence of Choi Il-hwan in order to fight with my life on the line. When I talked about that, the writer changed it because he was convinced. I think those conversations led me to directing a bit. On the surface, he just said, ‘You’re good at acting.’. Whenever I watch a piece, I think about my character, but I‘m an actor who thinks about the whole thing and analyzes it. I thought it was because of that part,“ he explained.

Kim Hee-won directed his first piece with his name on it through ‘Lighting Store’. Kim Hee-won said, ”I’ve always prepared and really wanted to do it, but I surprised myself this time. I bought toys for every scene and tried them out. I thought, ‘This is right. It‘ll be fun if I do this.’. When that was transferred to the screen, I thought, ‘So that’s how I did it.’. If there is a god, it feels like someone helped me at that moment. I also listened to the staff‘s opinions,“ he said, drawing attention.



Kim Hee-won said, ”I directed when I was in school, and I majored in that field. But shouldn’t someone tell me to do it? I started out as an actor, but I kept getting cast as an actor, so I thought I should do it. But I continued to study in my spare time. But when I actually started, I studied a lot with the staff. I learned a lot from the cinematographer about what kind of nuance would come out if I shot with this lens on a certain street. We really communicated a lot.“

Meanwhile, ‘The Lighting Store’, which was first released on the 4th, depicts a story that unfolds when customers with suspicious secrets visit the ‘The Lighting Store’, the only place that lights up a dark alley. It released 4 episodes on the 4th, and then released 2 episodes a week for the next 2 weeks, presenting all 8 episodes.

It is the fifth work in the ‘Mystery Psychological Chill’ series by author Kang Full and is based on the webtoon of the same name ‘Lighting Store’, which has surpassed 150 million cumulative views.

Reporter Choi Yoon-na, Donga.com yyynnn@donga.com