Director Lee Jae Kyu apologized for the scene of school violence from "All of Us Are Dead".
On the morning of February 7th, a video interview with director Lee Jae Kyu, who was in charge of directing Netflix's "All of Us Are Dead", was conducted through online live broadcast.
"All of Us Are Dead" is based on the original webtoon of the same name, and depicts the story of those isolated in a high school where the zombie virus spread and those who try to save them going through an extreme situation that is unknown. It is a Netflix original series with a total of 12 episodes.
According to FlixPatrol, an OTT ranking aggregation site, on February 6th, "All of Us Are Dead" topped Netflix's "Today's TOP 10" TV series for nine consecutive days. Currently, it has 837 points, far exceeding 514 points of second-place "Dark Desire" and maintaining the top spot with overwhelming numbers.
On top of that, since its release, it has topped Netflix's global TOP 10 TV (non-English) category, creating a global syndrome.
However, despite the high popularity and favorable reviews at home and abroad, some scenes of school violence (academic violence) that appeared in the early stages were controversial.
Hyosan High School bullies, including Yoon Gwi Nam (Yoo In Soo), took off the school uniform of school violence victim Eun Ji (Oh Hye Soo) and filmed sexual exploitation, or gave birth alone in the bathroom, which was more provocative than necessary.
Director Lee Jae Kyu said, "There are many tragedies in our society, and we never tried to stimulate the tragedy by simply showing it and attracting the audience because of it", adding, "You know from looking at Eun Ji behind, but even if you die of fear of exposure to your own life, you try to get rid of it. I wanted viewers be able to feel how cruel the perpetrators were", he said.
"In order to do that, there had to be a basic set value, and because we tried to create a situation where Eun Ji was about to die, such things had to happen", he said adding, "Cases like Hee Soo are sometimes reported in real life, but unwanted pregnancy is a reality that happens to us. At some point, she abandoned the child, and I thought that the figure of an 18-year-old girl who immediately wanted to protect the child resembles the overall story", he said.
Director Lee Jae Kyu said, "Onjo's father, Cheong San's mother, and Jimin's parents also came to the front of the school to save their children. Hee Soo also ran straight to save the abandoned child. The devices were needed to show minimal responsibility", he said. "As a director and planner, I am sorry if the message was delivered too much unintentionally or if there are any inconveniences".
According to the director, "All of Us Are Dead" has a much more refined expression level than the original webtoon. He said, "It may be unbearable when webtoons are implemented as videos. I thought I should be able to enjoy the drama easily and interestingly. So there are things that have been refined to some extent. In the original, Na Yeon and Gwi Nam are more violent. It is also a virtue of the original work", he added.
Meanwhile, "All of Us Are Dead" was released in 190 countries on Netflix on the 28th of last month.
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