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AHN Dong-kyu, head of production house DHUTA Co. Ltd. took his first step into the local film industry as an actor in his film studies-buddy, KIM Eui-suk’s short film, Chang-soo Gets the Job (1984) and a production assistant to JANG Sun-woo and SUNWOO Wan in their co-directed feature, Seoul Emperor (1986). He then had planned and developed White Badge (1992) and Blue In You (1992) before he produced Life Of Hollywood Kid (1994), The Adventure of Mrs. Park (1996), Dasepo Naughty Girls (2006), and The Grand Heist (2012) under his own production companies Ahnsworld and DHUTA Co. Ltd. He earned the reputation as one of the first generation film producers in Korea alongside SHIN Chul and YOO In-taek.

 

This year, AHN is on the brink of taking the next step as a producer by turning a long-time friendship with the Chinese film industry into a full-fledged partnership. We met the producer who is traveling around the Asian region that is not just limited to China, but also includes Malaysia, India and Thailand, developing new film projects.

 

I recently learned that the martial arts team we’ve collaborated with was working on an Indian film, so I joined them as I thought it would be a more casual opportunity for me to meet professionals in the Indian film industry than when I have business with them. And that’s how I was able to spend four days on the set of a film produced by the largest film company in Mumbai. There, I witnessed the performance of India’s biggest star Shahrukh Khan, right before my eyes.

 

The scenes that couldn’t be shot on location in Croatia were shot on a film set in Filmcity Mumbai. Ten Mac Books on set immediately created an almost final copy by applying CGI to the freshly shot footage. It was amazing. The film shoot proceeded according to an animated storyboard. And although the shoot seemed to flow quite loosely, each step went strictly time-efficiently.

 

It wasn’t the film industry that attracted me to China. I was always interested in Chinese history and culture, and this led to frequent trips and correspondences there. Being in the film business myself, I often met Chinese film professionals, but there hasn’t been any business-oriented intention. My first film-related visit to China occurred three months before the IMF financial crisis when I purchased the rights to Chinese author, YU Hua’s novel, Chronicle of a Blood Merchant.

 

 

This May, we shot Reunion (working title) with Korean actor, LEE Dong-gun and K-pop girl group, T-ARA member, Ji-yeon. We spent a week in China, then shot the journey from China to Spain, Greece, Italy and Singapore on a luxurious cruise boat. This entire shoot took us a total of 34 days. We’re currently in post-production. And in July, we shot a co-production project Tik Tok (working title) with Beijing Hairun Pictures with whom we’re also working on a remake of the 2006 Korean film, Traces of Love. Before my visit to India, I spent three days each in Shanghai, Beijing and Qingdao to discuss Korea-China co-productions with Chinese film professionals. I believe we’ll be able to work on as many as 2-3 projects next year.
 
How did you get to produce Tik Tok?

Beijing Hairun Pictures is a thriving company with the largest number of TV drama productions in China. And although they jumped into film production only recently, they’re quite aggressive. Last year, Hairun’s head visited Korea with its international team for some research, and my company was in their list. Once they decided to shoot Tik Tok in Korea, they contacted us. Since their main investor China Film is parastatal, there was no leeway with the budget, and they asked us with due respect if we could work on the film within the given production costs. On condition that they freeze the exchange rate to KRW 175 per RMB, and complete the film shoot within 3 months, we accepted their offer. In the end though, we managed to end the shoot earlier than scheduled.

 

 

The main actor was still not fixed although we only had a month left before the shoot. This was definitely an unrealistic situation for us, compared to our case whereby we start preparing production after fixing the cast at least 6 months in advance. But for the Chinese film market that practices booking the ever-so-busy actors’ schedules every 2 months, it’s understandable. Furthermore, the director turned up on set 2 weeks before the shoot. We had to accept this as a difference, because if we started considering it a problem, then everything would become a problem. The world doesn’t rotate in just one way, and accordingly, we can’t judge the right or wrong of an issue in one certain way. We all have our own ways of working.

 

 

We don’t spend much time negotiating. Some spend much time arguing over just 1% of the budget, but in most cases, we don’t waste our time. It’s not a matter of individual character, but of understanding cultural differences. When you’re talking with a Chinese company for 5 hours, only 10 minutes are spent on business. The rest is just chatting about the differences between China and Korea. Once the decision’s made to work together and certain major issues are fully discussed, then the talks naturally move on to more practical details. Among all Korean producers handling Korea-China co-productions, I believe I’m the one that satisfies the Chinese people the most.

 

 

The director, LEE Jun was quite flexible despite the tight schedule. He even offered to shoot 1-2 more hours after the daily 12 hour schedule, which meant that he also understood and worked along the Korean way of production. Korean actor, LEE Jung-jae was a true champ on set. He set an example as an excellent Korean actor, coming on time and warming up, always practicing on set with the script in his hands, and unsparingly dedicating himself in action scenes. He earned respect from the Chinese crew.

 

 

LEE Jung-jae personally recommended it to the Chinese crew. I don’t know why, but I guess despite the fact it failed in the local box office, he must have thought it was a well-made melodrama.

 

 

The situation was pretty serious when we were shooting Traces of Love. I was already totally broke from Dasepo Naughty Girls with a debt of USD 2.62 million. Looking back, it was a time when I could make reckless attempts to achieve high quality. I would go out on three-day film shoots just to get 4 cuts. But it was a time when things like that were possible.

 

 

Do you still believe the script is the most important in a film?

 

Of course. Recently, however, I have been also producing genre films such as The Grand Heist and Don't Click (2012). It’s a choice I made because I felt my opportunities were getting slim by insisting projects that suited my personal taste. But in addition, I’m also producing self-financed low-budget films such as Tattoo (scheduled for public release on December 10th) and Fly High (2009).

 

 

The idea still stands that whether it’s China or any other country I work with, efficiency within a given situation is the key.

 

 

The general perception of Korea-China co-production within the local industry seems to be somewhat like: “They’ll probably discard us after usurping all our skills.” I think these views exist because they don’t understand the Chinese market. Do you really think the Chinese will just be working with us? They’ve already been working with Hollywood. And last year, they’ve ranked second place in the worldwide film market while prospects for this year’s market growth looks to be 50%. I’m sure the Chinese will catch up on the U.S. film industry in no time. Would your partner feel good if they knew that you always talk of “strategies (to enter China)” and “conquering (the mainland industry)”? If you don’t change the way you talk about them, your attitude towards them will always be the same.