Busan Winner Park Ri-woong’s ‘Gilddong’ Aims to Be Korea’s ‘Gladiator’ at Asian Project Market

According To The variety Fresh off his triple win at the Busan International Film Festival, director Park Ri-woong is setting his sights on a much larger canvas with “Gilddong,” an epic about a rebel leader who uses Korea’s first Hangul novel to rally the people against the monarchy. The project, being pitched at this year’s Asian Project Market, represents a significant scale-up for Park, whose intimate drama “The Land of Morning Calm” swept BIFF 2024 with the New Currents Award, KB New Currents Audience Award, and Netpac Award. Set in the mid-Joseon period, “Gilddong” follows Hong Gildong as he leads the Hwalbindang in a raid on the jochang, a storage facility where tributes for Ming China are collected. Thrown into crisis, King Gwanghae summons Heo Gyun based on clues left behind and questions him about Hong Gildong’s identity. Heo Gyun reveals that Hong is a survivor of those wrongfully persecuted during the Gyechuk Political Persecution and warns that he is spreading the book of Hong Gildong-jeon to rally the people, overthrow the king, and establish a new nation called Yuldoguk. The royal court attempts to capture the Hwalbindang but instead falls into their trap, as Hong Gildong intensifies pressure on Gwanghae in what the synopsis calls “the final chase between those who wield power for profit and revolutionaries who cry out for justice.” “From the start, I asked: What if we turned ‘fake news’ back on the regime?” Park tells Variety. “What if the spread of the book contributed to the downfall of a dynasty – even if it was fiction? Though filled with lies, the story becomes a spark of truth.” The director sees the project as a natural evolution from his previous work, which has consistently combined genre elements with realism. “At heart, this is a story of those without masters in a society that functioned like slavery,” he explains. “The fear of power in the Joseon era repeats itself in our time.” Park is particularly drawn to the unique linguistic divide of Joseon society, where rulers used traditional Chinese characters while common people used Hangul. “Hong Gildong-jeon was the first Hangul novel, intended for the people to read,” he notes. “In many ways, it was an early superhero tale, where an extraordinary figure mocked kings and elites.” Rather than modernizing the period setting, Park aims for historical authenticity. “I have no wish to modernize the setting. For me, that fidelity is the most ‘modern’ choice,” he says, citing “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Bloody Sunday” as models for bringing documentary-style rigor to historical material. The character’s name “Gilddong” combines two names: Seogil, a concubine-born aristocrat’s son, and Gaeddong, a slave. In Joseon society, both faced systematic oppression – the seoja class was barred from government positions, while slaves, comprising up to 60% of the population, were bound for life along with their children. Producer Ahn Byungrae, who has worked with Park on two previous low-budget features, is confident about scaling up. “What I felt while producing director Park Ri-woong’s films is that his stories have ample commercial appeal rooted in artistic vision,” Ahn says. However, the ambitious scope presents practical challenges. “The natural environments suitable for filming large-scale historical battles no longer exist in Korea,” Ahn explains. “Therefore, we are seeking overseas locations with similar environments where we can shoot while saving on budget.” The producer is targeting both local and international investment, with plans to scout locations and find production partners specializing in period action. Given the story’s revolutionary themes and basis in shared Asian history, Ahn is engaging with distributors and streaming platforms across the region. “I would like to make this film Korea’s ‘Gladiator’ or ‘Mad Max,'” Ahn declares, noting the opportune timing amid growing global interest in Korean classical tales. For Park, whose previous work “The Girl on a Bulldozer” also dealt with resistance themes, the project represents both continuity and expansion. “The recognition opened better opportunities for my work,” he says of his BIFF success, while emphasizing that “Gilddong” maintains his focus on “stories of ordinary people.” The director believes the film’s exploration of how fictional narratives can inspire real change will resonate universally. “The intertwining of storytelling and collective emotion, I hope, will resonate universally,” he says, comparing the approach to “Shakespeare in Love” in allowing audiences to experience the dramatic process of artistic creation