JK YOUN is the director of <Haeundae> (2009), the fifth Korean movie to sell ten million tickets, and a producer who can boast of better-than-average box office performances for all of his releases. Previously, he was an ad copywriter before jumping into the movie industry by winning a prize in a movie script contest. YOUN is credited for making the prototype of gangster comedy movies. He debut was <My Boss, My Hero>, which developed into one of the most commercia...More

JK YOUN is the director of <Haeundae> (2009), the fifth Korean movie to sell ten million tickets, and a producer who can boast of better-than-average box office performances for all of his releases. Previously, he was an ad copywriter before jumping into the movie industry by winning a prize in a movie script contest. YOUN is credited for making the prototype of gangster comedy movies. He debut was <My Boss, My Hero>, which developed into one of the most commercially successful comedy series in Korean movie history, he later made more hit movies such as <Sex Is Zero> (2002) and <Crazy Assassins> (2003). With lively characters, well-structured stories, and natural “laugh codes” working in harmony in his scripts and under his direction, YOUN established a firm ground in the industry as a director who knows how to sell. His style and ability to lower the audience’s guard and present humor and moving stories have been revealed consistently not only in the movies he wrote and directed but also the movies he participated in as a producer, such as <All for Love> (2005) and <Harmony> (2009). <Haeundae>, the blockbuster movie that hit the Korean movie scene like a tsunami and attracted 11 million viewers in the summer of 2009, is widely credited for opening a new horizon for the genre of the Korean-style disaster movie. He also produced the 3D sci-fi action film <Sector> 7 from director KIM Ji-hoon, but the film flopped at the box office in the summer of 2011 despite high expectations. YOUN next produced the comedy-action <The Spy: Undercover Operation> in 2013, and returned to the director’s seat with <Ode to My Father>, released at the end of 2014. Made on a large budget and covering multiple international locations as well as many Korean historical events, <Ode to My Father> was a national phenomenon which drew over 14 million admissions and was invited to screen at the Berlin International Film Festival.Less