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🇰🇷 South Korea /Culture & Society

Choi Min-sik made Kim Do-young take on the burden of remaking ‘The Intern’

From Dong-A Ilbo · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Director Kim Do-young initially hesitated to direct a remake of the 2015 Hollywood film ‘The Intern’ after previously adapting another film.
  • She changed her mind after thinking about working with actor Choi Min-sik, who had already been cast.
  • The Korean film, starring Choi as a retired worker who joins a fashion startup as a senior intern, opens on the 16th.

When Kim Do-young was offered the chance to remake ‘The Intern,’ she did not immediately welcome the idea. The director, who had shown a strength for working with existing stories from her debut film ‘Kim Ji-young, Born 1982’ through the unusual romantic hit ‘Us, at the End of the World,’ still felt the weight of taking on another remake.

The proposal came last spring, while Kim was finishing post-production on ‘Us, at the End of the World.’ Someone joked that she should become “the queen of remakes,” but Kim shook her head. She later met the Dong-A Ilbo on the 7th at a cafe in Seoul’s Jongno district.

the queen of remakes

· Unnamed personA joke that reflected the pressure Kim felt about directing another remake.

What changed her mind was one name: Choi Min-sik. The actor had already been cast in advance, and Kim said the thought of finally getting to work with him drew her into the project. “I joined the project thinking, when would I ever get to work with my senior?” she said.

The film ‘The Intern,’ opening on the 16th, casts Choi as Gi-ho, a retired worker with 37 years of experience who joins a fashion startup as a senior intern. The source excerpt presents the remake as a project Kim accepted despite her reservations, driven in large part by the opportunity to work with Choi.

I joined the project thinking, when would I ever get to work with my senior?

· Kim Do-youngKim explained that the opportunity to work with Choi Min-sik persuaded her to accept the project.
About this summary

Originally published by Dong-A Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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