Poster for director Jang Hang-jun’s film ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’. Photo ㈜Showbox
With 12 million admissions in sight, the production company behind director Jang Hang-jun’s film ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ has received a content-certified letter alleging plagiarism. The company firmly denied this and said it is considering legal action.
On the 10th, OndaWorks, the production company of ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ (hereafter ‘Wangsanam’), issued an official statement saying, “The film is a purely original work based on historical facts, the entire creative process has been recorded in detail, and this can be substantiated.”
It added, “As the work draws on historical figures and events, there may be other creations that claim similarity; however, there was no path of exposure or causal connection to that work during our creative process, and at no stage of planning, development, or production did we plagiarize any other work.”
The company again emphasized that “the plagiarism allegation is groundless,” and expressed its intent to take legal action, stating, “We will respond firmly to such claims through all processes, including legal procedures.”
The plagiarism allegation related to ‘Wangsanam’ began with MBN’s ‘News 7’ report on the 9th. The newscast reported, “The bereaved family of stage actor Mr. Eom sent the production company a content-certified letter requesting disclosure of the script’s source for ‘Wangsanam’.”
The family cited several scenes from ‘Wangsanam’ for example, Danjong Yi Hongwi eating at the encouragement of Eom Heung-do and expressing satisfaction; Eom Heung-do trying to save Danjong as he attempts to jump from a cliff; and Eom Heung-do’s son being taken to the local government office in custody and argued that it is similar to the script for the drama ‘Eom Heung-do’ that Mr. Eom wrote in the 2000s.
The family asserted that “‘Eom Heung-do’ is a first draft Mr. Eom, who passed away in 2019, wrote in the 2000s with a drama production in mind.” Mr. Eom is known to be the 31st-generation descendant of Eom Heung-do; he sent the script to broadcasters at the time, but it did not proceed to actual production.
‘Wangsanam’, which covers the story at Cheongnyeongpo in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, where Danjong was exiled after the Gyeyu Jeongnan when he was driven out by Sejo, surpassed 10 million cumulative admissions on the 6th, the 31st day since its release. As of the morning of the 10th, cumulative admissions stood at about 11.7 million.
