Director Yeon Sang-ho, the acclaimed filmmaker behind the international hit "Train to Busan" (2016) and Netflix's popular series "Hellbound," has embarked on a bold new creative challenge with his latest project. His upcoming film "The Ugly" was produced with an ultra-low budget of approximately 200 million won ($143,600), marking a dramatic departure from his previous big-budget productions.
During a press conference held in Seoul on Friday, Yeon explained his motivation for taking this unconventional approach. "I've made a lot of films, and with each one, I always think, 'I want to make a new kind of film.' And one day a thought suddenly struck me – if I want to make a movie with a new soul, it needs a new body," the director said. "So, I thought, what if I tried making a film in a way that's completely different from what I've done before."
"The Ugly" is a gripping mystery thriller that centers around Im Dong-hwan, the son of Im Yeong-gyu, a visually impaired seal engraver. The story unfolds when Dong-hwan makes a shocking discovery – the skeletal remains of his mother, who vanished without a trace 40 years earlier. This disturbing find sets him on a dark journey as he begins to investigate the truth behind his mother's mysterious death and uncover long-buried family secrets.
The film features a unique casting choice with actor Park Jeong-min taking on a challenging dual role, portraying both the younger version of Yeong-gyu and his son Dong-hwan. Veteran actor Kwon Hae-hyo completes the central cast by playing the older Yeong-gyu. This creative casting decision adds an intriguing layer to the narrative structure of the film.
"The Ugly" is an adaptation of the graphic novel "Eolgul" – which translates to "face" in Korean – that Yeon himself wrote and illustrated in 2018. To maintain the extremely tight budget, the production team implemented several cost-cutting measures that significantly differed from typical commercial filmmaking. The crew was deliberately limited to approximately 20 people, which represents only one-third the size of a standard commercial film production. Additionally, the entire shooting schedule was compressed into an intensive 13 sessions spanning just three weeks.
Yeon candidly admitted to experiencing initial concerns about the project's constraints. "I worried about what would happen if the video quality or the final product didn't meet expectations. However, as soon as we started the project and the team and actors gathered, all that fear disappeared," he revealed. The director found an unexpected silver lining in the budget limitations, explaining, "It was a limited budget, but budgets are always limited. I've never shot a film with an excessive budget. I've always been rushed for time. Paradoxically, with 'The Ugly,' we had the most abundance, the most flexibility, and were able to use as much time as we needed."
Park Jeong-min revealed that the innovative dual casting was actually his own suggestion to the director. "I thought that if the son's actor plays his father's younger self while uncovering his past, it might convey a strange emotion to the audience," the actor explained. This creative approach adds psychological depth to the character exploration and family dynamics central to the story.
For Kwon Hae-hyo, taking on the role of a character with visual impairment presented a new acting challenge, but one that resonated with his personal experience. "To play Im Yeong-gyu, I wore lenses that actually made it difficult to see," Kwon shared. "My late father-in-law also had a visual impairment. Having witnessed his life, I think I was able to naturally accept the difficult parts of the role through my acting without even realizing it." This personal connection helped inform his authentic portrayal of the character.
"The Ugly" is scheduled to hit theaters starting September 11, offering audiences a chance to experience Yeon Sang-ho's bold experiment in micro-budget filmmaking. The project represents not only a creative risk for the established director but also demonstrates how innovative storytelling can thrive within severe financial constraints.
