Chapter 010
We sat side by side on the steps of the village hall and listened carefully to the old man's story.
His story was as follows.
During the Korean War, the old man evacuated to Daegu.
Even in the middle of the war, he met people who were making movies in Daegu.
He began working in the film industry by helping them with various odd jobs.
The old man came to enjoy making movies, so even after the war ended, he continued working in the film industry.
Eventually, he even started a film company with a friend as his business partner.
But that was when the problems began.
Unlike the old man, who genuinely loved making movies, his business partner only cared about making money by importing foreign films.
Before the 1980s, there was something called the Foreign Film Import Quota System.
Under the system, a company had to produce a certain number of Korean films before it could receive the rights to import foreign movies.
The old man's business partner made terrible movies solely to obtain those foreign film import rights.
He invested recklessly in those movies, and eventually, the family went completely broke.
Back then, the old man even used the university tuition money of his son, who was now the village chief.
His son resented his father for the rest of his life because of it.
After hearing the old man's story, I could finally understand, at least a little, why the village chief hated movies so much.
“My son practically paid off all the debts I made while making movies.”
“Could you tell us the titles of the movies you made back then?”
“Why?”
“I was wondering if we could find them somewhere and watch them.”
“There won't be any movies from that time.”
The old man explained that the movies had only been made to obtain import rights, so they had never even been released in theaters.
The only original copies that existed had probably been destroyed when the film company went bankrupt.
“Don't resent my son too much.
Because of the sin of having a father like me, my son hasn't watched a movie in a theater even once in his entire life.”
“No, sir.
We don't resent him...”
“Even if I want to help you, I'm a sinner in my son's eyes...”
Regret filled the old man's face.
After parting ways with him, Cha Seung-jun and I had a lot on our minds as we headed back to Seoul.
“By the way, does this mean we have to give up on the abandoned factory in Paju?”
“Hyung, could you give me a little time?”
“What are you talking about?
Why do you need time?”
“Even if we eventually have to give up, I don't think we should give up like this.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean the old man.
Modern Korean cinema exists today largely because of people like him.”
Cha Seung-jun tilted his head as if he didn't understand what I was getting at.
“So?”
“I don't think someone like him should have such a miserable final chapter in his life.”
I had spent twenty years of my life thinking only about movies, yet the end of my life had been miserable.
Maybe that was why the old man's life seemed to overlap with mine.
“You...
What exactly are you thinking?”
This was no longer simply a matter of whether we could secure the abandoned factory.
“Hyung, I'm asking you.
Please give me a little time.
And for now, tell PD-nim to give me just a little more time too.”
The actor auditions were now only one week away.
Scriptwriter Jung-in, who was in charge of the auditions, organized the profiles of all the actors who had applied and distributed them to Director Song and the rest of us.
Each profile contained the actor's photograph, along with the titles of movies or dramas they had appeared in and the roles they had played.
Most were supporting actors, minor actors, or extras.
Some didn't even have any acting credits at all.
There were also a few familiar faces that seemed like people we had seen on television dramas.
“Oh, I think I've seen this person in a TV drama recently.
He played the protagonist's college friend.
It looks like he's working without an agency.”
“That's right.
I think I've seen actor number 19 in a movie too.”
“Actress number 23 has only appeared in one short film, but she's incredibly pretty.”
“That's true.
She really is beautiful.
Is she too young to play Mi-sun?”
Among the actors of all ages and levels of experience, we each selected the male actors we thought could play the male protagonist, Sunwoo, and submitted our choices to Director Song.
As I carefully looked through the profiles, my eyes stopped on the photograph of a man with a strange atmosphere that seemed to combine both Eastern and Western features.
He had Western-style facial features, but his eyes were narrow and long, with no double eyelids, giving him a distinctly East Asian appearance.
‘Huh?
Is this Moon Hyun-bin?!’
If I remembered correctly, around this time, Moon Hyun-bin would appear in Director Hwang Sun-hyuk's movie Eye of the Typhoon.
Although he was only a supporting actor, he would leave a stronger impression than the protagonist.
He would even win a Best New Actor award.
After that, he would go on to appear in movies, dramas, and even variety shows.
Almost every project he appeared in would become a major success.
By 2024, he would become a bona fide Hallyu star.
‘But why did Moon Hyun-bin submit his profile here without an agency?’
As I tilted my head in confusion, Taesu from the directing department, who had been watching me, looked at me curiously.
“Why?
What's wrong?”
“Nothing.
It's just this actor.”
“Who is he?
Do you know him?”
“You don't know this actor?”
“I don't think so.
It's my first time seeing his face.”
Only then did I realize that the movie Moon Hyun-bin had appeared in hadn't been released yet.
‘Ah, right.
Eye of the Typhoon is scheduled to be released in March 2005.
They're probably still editing it right now.’
My mind began working rapidly.
Moon Hyun-bin would gain tremendous recognition next year because of the movie he had already filmed.
