Skip to content
Bramble

Entertainment

Director Han Jun-hee gives Netflix masterclass on risk-taking at Busan film festival

At Netflix's Creative Asia day at the Busan International Film Festival, Korean director Han Jun-hee said safe storytelling is itself a risk. Han also discussed D.P., Weak Hero Class, Dead-End Job and the Korea-Japan series The Blue Road.

2 outlets · 1L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Variety
Image: Deadline

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Korean writer-director Han Jun-hee gave a masterclass at Netflix's Creative Asia day during the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), speaking about how to get audiences to respond to risky or unfamiliar material. Mixed · 2The session was a conversation with Kim Kijae of Netflix Korea, whom Variety describes as a longtime creative executive and Deadline as a content manager. Mixed · 2Han's central message was that bold choices make stories interesting and that playing safe is itself a risk, especially in Korea.

Mixed · 2Han said projects on seemingly niche subjects, such as military service in D.P. (2021) and school violence in Weak Hero Class (2022), were made accessible through genre: a buddy-movie format for D.P. and action for Weak Hero. Han argued that army stories can reach female viewers through their fathers and brothers, and that high-school feelings are universal. Mixed · 2Han said that casting three young leads, Park Ji-hoon, Choi Hyun-wook and Hong Kyung, was a strategy to broaden Weak Hero Class's appeal beyond male viewers; Deadline reports the remark as half-joking. Mixed · 2Han wrote and directed D.P. but stepped back from directing Weak Hero Class, bringing in emerging director Yoo Soo-min (named by Variety) and saying that backing new talent matters for Korea's creative industry.

Centre · 1Deadline adds that Han discussed the 2024 film Pilot, directed by Kim Han-gyul, as an example of using comedy to carry a message. Mixed · 2Han created the Netflix series Dead-End Job, directed by Kim Da-min, which premieres Oct. 30. It follows a debt-ridden young man in a deadly, very well-paid part-time job and uses a fantasy element to address the harsh reality of earning a living. Mixed · 2Han also discussed The Blue Road, Han's return to directing, which streams on Netflix from Nov. 20. It is adapted from a manga/manhwa about Korean and Japanese detectives tracking a serial killer, and stars Son Suk-ku and Nagayama Eita (per Variety). It screened in BIFF's On Screen section.

Mixed · 2Han said that shooting with Korean and Japanese crews involved early misunderstandings: Korean crews are fast and flexible, while Japanese crews prepare meticulously. Each side eventually learned from the other. Left · 1Variety adds that Han does not see The Blue Road as a comeback, that its ending was rewritten many times, and that Han closed by calling luck important and urging aspiring filmmakers not to fear criticism.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
Variety presents a profile of Han's creative philosophy, built on the idea that safe choices are the bigger risk, with career anecdotes and advice for aspiring filmmakers.
Emphasis
Han's origin story with House of Cards, the closing advice about luck and criticism, the ending of The Blue Road being rewritten, and the plot of Dead-End Job.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not mention Pilot or Han's role as writer-director of D.P.; the headline lacks the Japan shoot angle.
Charged language
“game changer”
For example
“It left him with one ambition: to make a story no one had told before, but that many people would watch.” — Variety
“If it doesn’t work, try again. Artistic work is still work.” — Variety

Centre1 outlet

Framing
Deadline treats the masterclass as an industry briefing on strategies for selling risky material, with the Japan shoot in the headline.
Emphasis
Han's career credits, commercial context such as the box-office record of Park Ji-hoon's The King's Warden, the film Pilot, and cross-border crew differences.
Leaves out or plays down
Leaves out the House of Cards anecdote, the rewriting of The Blue Road's ending, and the closing advice on luck.
Charged language
“breakout hit”
For example
“Park starred in The King’s Warden, released earlier this year, which has become the highest-grossing Korean film of all time.” — Deadline
“Neither way is better or worse; just different” — Deadline

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.