SOO FILM was founded 10 years ago. Its debut film All for Love (2005) was followed by warm romance films like Antique (2008), The Naked Kitchen (2009), Finding Mr. Destiny (2010), All About My Wife (2012) and Marriage Blue (2013). Constantly pivoting on romance films, the production company has also tried other types of movies such as omnibus horror film series Horror Stories and The Inferno (working title), a historic film currently under production through its own producing infrastructure. This company is comparable to the British company Working Title since they deal with various projects, yet its strongest point is romance films. Here is an interview with MIN Jin-soo, the head of SOO FILM, so called the Korean Working Title.

 

- What is distinctive about SOO FILM is that you don’t hesitate to try something new. For example, Finding Mr. Destiny, the first Korean film dramatized from a musical, and All About My Wife, a remake of a Latin Film.
To make a film, you have to invest everything for at least a whole year. Like a farmer who has to cope with storms and bad weather conditions, we go through multiple hardships. If I don’t see any meaning in a film my company works on, I sometimes feel like withdrawing it. Especially when I’m the first one to attempt at something new, it is important for me to find the meaning of doing it. For such works, I become strong enough to propel all the way to the end even though it’s hard. That is probably why I tend to constantly look for something no one else ever tried in Korea. Besides this, considering the current situation of the Korean film industry where production companies are gradually pushed out of their position, each one needs to possess uniqueness. Not just new things, but various types of films are what we need to make and show viewers.

 

- SOO FILM often buys diverse copyrights and produces remake films. As far as I know, you had many difficulties while being on location in India when you made Finding Mr. Destiny, which is also a remake of a musical.
Korea barely has any know-how in shooting on location in foreign countries. The biggest problem working in India is that it is almost impossible to communicate and we weren’t able to receive any support there. To make Finding Mr. Destiny, we hired staff members who had much experience in filming and was knowledgeable about the local situation of India. Then we visited the country several times months prior to shooting, in order to prepare what we needed. To be honest, we needed a lot of national support for production, but we couldn’t get any actual help. I’m not just talking about Finding Mr. Destiny. The same sort of problem happened when we made All About My Wife. When we shot it on location in Japan, it was difficult because there was no system to receive support from the government.

 

- Specifically, what kind of national support do you think should be established?
Due to the current situation of filmmaking in Korea, we generally send our staff members to the foreign location during the pre-production period to get information. So we spend a respectable portion of the budget on overseas production and the quality of the film accordingly lessens. To solve this problem, I think the government needs to help us. When the Hollywood film The Avengers: Age of Ultron was shot in Seoul, Korean public institutions took the initiative in controlling traffic, which many Korean filmmakers thought was ironic. When we make films in other countries, we can never imagine such a situation.

 

- You have made great movies through purchasing various copyrights. Do you have any tips on such a process?
As for film production, I’m still in the middle of gaining experience, so I don’t have any specific know-how yet. However, when I use someone else’s scenario, I try to put myself in the original author’s shoes. It is usually because I’m fascinated by the merit of the original story when I purchase one, but I cannot help failing in highlighting its strengths, sometimes due to the genre. So I assume myself as the author to see if I have a good grasp of the story and if I’m on the right track of showing its cinematic characteristics without going off the theme. During the pre-production of Antique, I met the Japanese author and discussed with him which parts to revise and asked for his opinion about what I wanted to change.

 

- You recently bought the copyright of Will You Be There?, a best seller written by the French novelist Guillaume Musso. Did you have any difficulty in buying it?
Whether it’s a film or a novel, the original author is not likely to be happy about having his work cinematized in a country he doesn’t know of. It is because they cannot trust in each other. As a best seller writer, he has received a number of requests about purchasing copyright from Korea, but it never worked out before. SOO FILM could succeed mainly because we had a meeting with him. At the meeting with the author and the representative of the publisher in attendance, we explained the intention and the direction of the film. We were really lucky that Guillaume Musso said he could sell us the copyright on the spot. Since then, it took a year until we signed to finalize the contract.

 

- How far along are you in preparation for Will You Be There?
We’ve almost finished scriptwriting for casting. Director has been confirmed and the staff is partly filled. It is under pre-production. I guess we can start shooting early next year.

 

- One of what make SOO FILM different from others is that you have produced many romance films although it is not a genre easy to succeed in Korea. Is it your goal to become the ‘Korean Working Title’?
I personally am fond of any genre of films. But I want to be good in at least one genre. I am planning to keep on making warm and moving romance films. We are currently working on another romance film to follow Will You Be There? as well. This time, we are going to make one based on a Korean novel. But at the same time, I think I as a producer should be able to make different genres of films. As we made 2 episodes of Horror Stories, we are going to make Horror Stories 3. We also plan to have MIN Kyu-dong make The Inferno (working title), a historic sci-fi movie.

 

- Your company planned theatrical performances for All About My Wife, released a record and published a book for Marriage Blue, and printed a book on the making process of The Naked Kitchen. All these show that SOO FILM is particularly good at one source, multi use system. Are you going to stick to the same strategy in the future?
Our biggest goal in one source multi use system is making musicals out of our films. We will make the musical version of Will You Be There? as well, after its screening ends. With previous experiences, I will start writing the musical script as soon as the movie scenario is done. I am planning to launch its premier within 2 years after the film is released, like what I did with All About My Wife.

 

- SOO FILM has faced its 10th anniversary. What does 10 years with SOO FILM mean to you? Plus, what plans and goals do you have for the next 10 years?
I didn’t want to produce films in the beginning. I didn’t even imagine producing films and I lived a completely different life until my early thirties. (He was a tax accountant in the past.) Since I started producing films at 33, I have invested everything in movie production until now. I didn’t have any close friend in the field, so the movie world was just strange to me. Looking back at 10 years in the industry, I have a lot of regrets. One thing I can say for sure though is that I have always kept and will continue to have passion for movies. I have received more love than I deserve from viewers and that is what made it possible for me to stand here, challenging for new films. I will continue to constantly make efforts to produce Korean films that can be loved not only in Korea but also globally. I personally dream of a future where viewers select films simply by the name of the production company, ‘SOO FILM.’