The ‘conquest of the home theater’ of directors who have been running around the screen has established itself as a key keyword of the latest drama trend. This is thanks to directors who mainly made movies, such as Kim Tae-kyun of Channel A‘s new Saturday-Sunday drama ‘The Witch’, Lee Do-yoon of Netflix’s ‘Trauma Center’, and Lee Jang-hoon of Tving‘s ‘Study Group’, each achieving outstanding results with their first dramas.

In particular, they are drawing favorable reviews for not missing out on fresh fun by thoroughly following the ‘drama writing style’ while also incorporating experimental charms throughout the drama. This is in contrast to previous cases where some star directors borrowed movie production methods to create dramas that ended up being box office failures, and is garnering curious eyes from both inside and outside the broadcasting industry.

Director Kim Tae-kyun, who has proven his sharp directing skills in theaters with films such as ‘Dark Figure of Crime’ ‘Spring, Snow’, etc., will step into the home theater for the first time with ‘The Witch’, which will be aired for the first time on the 15th. ‘The Witch’, directed by him, is based on the webtoon of the same name by Kang Full, who has created hits such as ‘Moving’ ‘Lighting Store’, and dramatically unfolds the love story of a woman (Noh Jeong-ui) who is afflicted with a ‘curse’ that befalls the man who loves her bad luck, and a data expert (Park Jin-young) who risks his life to lift the curse.

Director Kim Tae-kyun said at a production conference held at The Saint in Guro-gu, Seoul on the 11th about why he chose ‘The Witch’ as his first drama, “‘The Witch’ is a masterpiece that goes beyond a simple love story and contains rich social implications such as ‘social witch hunt’ created by the world’s prejudices, so I was drawn to it as a creator.” He continued, “My first goal was to respect the original work, and I created the drama by filling in the blanks between cuts and chapters.”

Director Kim poured his heart and soul into his first drama, to the point of saying, “I even used all my personal resources.” He “asked for absurd help” from top stars he had worked with in the past, such as Joo Ji-hoon and Jin Seon-kyu from ‘Dark Figure of Crime’, and made special appearances.

‘Trauma Center’, which ‘all-killed’ the global stage, is the first drama from director Lee Do-yoon, who created ‘Good Friends’ in 2014. Director Lee Do-yoon took on the directing role at the recommendation of Joo Ji-hoon, who plays the main character Baek Kang-hyeok, and completed ‘Trauma Center’ as “a unique hero drama that combines medical elements and fantasy”.

Unlike other medical dramas, the director boldly omitted medical verification and portrayed the adventures of doctors overcoming crises in unrealistic ways in a refreshing and fast-paced manner, taking first place among Netflix‘s global non-English TV shows.

Director Lee Jang-hoon, who mainly dealt with lyrical stories such as the movies ‘Miracle’ ‘Now I’m on my way to meet you’, took on the unconventional action genre with the 10-episode drama ‘Study Group’.

The drama uniquely depicts the process in which the main character Hwang Min-hyun, who entered a vocational high school, rises to the top of the school rankings, and is currently ranked first in paid subscriptions on Tving. The director said, “I wanted to try a stylish action film, but I was drawn to the simple story and attractive characters, so I decided to take on the challenge of directing the series.”




Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.