Behind the 9 Million-Viewer Hit 'The King's Warden': “We Were Puzzled That Danjong’s Dummy Wouldn’t Sink”

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[The Financial News] The film "The King's Warden," which opened in February, has surpassed 9 million viewers, and director Jang Hang-jun has shared some behind-the-scenes stories from the shoot. Nicknamed "The Man Who Lives With the King," the film drew more than 9 million cumulative moviegoers on the 27th day of its release, March 2. This pace is faster than "The King and the Clown," the first historical drama to top 10 million viewers, which took 50 days, and "Masquerade," which took 31 days.
On March 1st Independence Movement Day, the film attracted 817,205 viewers in a single day, setting a new daily record since its release. This figure surpasses the 661,442 viewers recorded on February 17 during the Lunar New Year holiday period, suggesting that strong word of mouth has fueled its box-office success.
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In a previous interview at a café in Samcheong-dong, Jongno District, Seoul, Jang Hang-jun spoke about the late-film sequence in which the body of Yi Hong-wi (Danjong of Joseon) drifts down the Donggang River. He explained, “We created a dummy that matched actor Park Ji-hoon’s body weight,” and clarified, “The corpse you see in the film is a dummy.”
“At first, it just wouldn’t sink,” he recalled. “We calculated the weight needed for it to go under, but it kept floating, so we added more weight. We even tried tying it down with stones, like in a thriller film, but it still wasn’t easy,” he said, adding, “It was a very strange experience.”
He went on, “It is said that Danjong of Joseon’s body was actually thrown into the Donggang River. There was a saying that anyone who retrieved the corpse would see three generations wiped out. If that was the case, many people must have witnessed that scene over the course of ten days or so,” and added, “Even while we were filming, I kept wondering why it wouldn’t sink.”
Eom Heung-do is known as the man who secretly recovered Danjong of Joseon’s body. He is said to have held the funeral in secret and then lived in hiding around Yeongwol under a false identity. Many years later, during the reign of King Sukjong of Joseon, Danjong of Joseon was posthumously restored, and Eom Heung-do’s loyalty was brought back into the spotlight.
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The Riverside Poster released on the 3rd captures a poignant image of Yi Hong-wi, played by Park Ji-hoon, leaving a deep impression. It shows him, stripped of his throne and exiled to Cheongnyeongpo, sitting alone by the riverbank and playing with the water.
This scene was born from an idea by Yoo Hae-jin, who plays Eom Heung-do, and was not in the original script. A staff member had filmed Park Ji-hoon playing alone by the river and posted the clip on a social networking service (SNS). Yoo Hae-jin happened to see it and thought, “Wouldn’t the real Yi Hong-wi have done something like that too?” He then proposed turning it into a scene in the film.
Yoo Hae-jin has said, “The image of Yi Hong-wi splashing water by the river at his place of exile really stayed with me. I imagined that, in that moment, Eom Heung-do must have felt like he was watching his own son. It pained me to think that a boy who should have been running around freely was instead confined to an exile site.”
Park Ji-hoon also remarked, “The scene where I’m squatting by the river came about thanks to Hae-jin’s suggestion. I thought a lot about what might have gone through his mind as he played alone in the water at an age when he should have been out playing with friends. I tried my best to convey Danjong of Joseon’s feelings.”
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jashin@fnnews.com Shin Jin-ah Reporter