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Filmmaker Shim Hyung-rae: An Impressive Comeback with "D-War"

An event aimed at promoting the movie "D-War" by director Shim Hyung-rae was held recently in Los Angeles, USA. Many Hollywood film producers attended the event, as "D-War" is predicted to become one of the biggest box-office hits this summer. The net production cost of the movie--which opens in Korea August 1 and in the United States September 14--amounted to 30 billion won, and it took six years to produce, with the original target being Hollywood.

Comedian-turned-world-renowned-filmmaker

Shim originally made his name in the showbiz world as a comedian. His characters, Yong-gu and the Foolish Penguin, were big hits in the comedy sector at the time. Shim was an iconic comedian in the eyes of children and brought levity to the lives of adults with exhausting routines. But one day, his 1989 movie, "Yong-Gu And Daeng Chiri", became a huge box-office success by drawing more than a million viewers. It could have drawn over two million viewers had it been given a more expansive network and had more accurate data collected on it, like today's movies. Since then, all of Shim's movie series for children have become season hits.

Shim switched his target audience in 1999 with the movie "Yonggary". The movie's box-office performance fell short of expectations but it served as a turning point in the history of Korean cinematography by raising expectations that Korean filmmakers can also produce sci-fi movies. The movie experienced several pitfalls but, at the time, Shim was the only one who could produce it. Nobody else could even imagine creating a work of that quality. As a result Shim received acclaim for his innovation and inspired media outlets to discuss the future of his films. Everything Shim foresaw back then is slowly starting to take shape today.

But in some ways, "Yonggary" was the biggest crisis in Shim's life, leaving deep emotional wounds. At the time, Shim signed a contract that was written in English without carefully checking its terms and conditions, completely trusting the movie's distribution firm. He later found to his dismay that the contract ensured that the distribution firm would receive all the revenue from the movie, leaving him with nothing. People who had invested in the movie demanded their money back from Shim, forcing him to sell his private property to raise funds.

But he was able to overcome the hardship and his despair thanks to those who trusted him until the very end. With "Yonggary", Shim fell victim to fraud in the United States and hurt other people, albeit unintentionally, but after a long ordeal, he has made an impressive comeback with "D-War". He truly deserves praise for overcoming adversity and producing dazzling results.

"D-War", a movie created by Korean sentiment

Hollywood film industry insiders lauded "D-War" for its superb special effects that were used in large-scale action scenes shot in downtown LA and to portray monstrous creatures. The scene showing a monster-serpent twining itself around the US Bank Tower in Los Angeles as well as battle scenes featuring evil monsters have received praise for their outstanding blockbuster level quality. They serve as yet additional evidence of the unrivaled status of "D-War" as an entertainment movie. The movie's excellent sound, editing and colors, which were produced with the help of Hollywood technicians, have also raised expectations about the movie's success. The people who participated in the production of "D-War" include music director Steve Jablonsky, who also participated in the production of "The Island" and "Transformers", as well as the staff of "Con Air" and "16 Blocks". They all highly credited Shim's ability to vividly portray imaginary monsters onscreen.

Another aspect that attracted them to Shim was his caring personality. Shim wholly trusts his partners. He also personally cooked for the production crew when they had to stay up all night producing the film. Once, when he was cooking spicy Korean dishes, a fire alarm went off. Although "D-War" stars foreign actors, its plot is full of Korean sentiment.

In one of his interviews, Shim said he became upset when some filmmakers ignored him simply because he used to be a comedian. His biggest wish now is to quell all those prejudices and misunderstandings with "D-War".

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