Lee Joon-ik's Close Friend—Director Jo Cheol-hyeon, Director of 'The King's Letters', Passes Away After Battle with Bile Duct Cancer

Director Jo Cheol-hyeon, who directed the film 'The King's Letters', has passed away after a battle with bile duct cancer. Having served as a pillar of the Korean film industry for a long time as a producer, planner, and screenwriter, he took his first step as a director at the relatively late age of 60, but passed away in eternal sleep at the age of 67 before he could continue his dream toward his second work.

Director Jo Cheol-hyeon passed away in the early morning of the 8th. It is reported that he had been fighting the illness for about 8 months after being diagnosed with bile duct cancer last February. The deceased, born in 1959, had been involved in the film industry for over 30 years, crossing various fields such as production, planning, and screenwriting. He worked for a long time as a producer who coordinated with numerous people to complete a single film, while simultaneously acting as a creator who built the framework of stories.

In particular, his connection with director Lee Joon-ik is difficult to leave out when discussing Director Jo Cheol-hyeon's film career. Together with director Lee Joon-ik, he participated in production, planning, and screenwriting for works such as 'Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield' (2003), 'Blades of Blood' (2010), and 'Battlefield Heroes' (2011), creating major works of Korean cinema together. While collaborating multiple times with director Lee Joon-ik's cinematic world, which interprets historical subjects with a modern sensibility, he steadily participated in the work of translating interests in history and humanity into cinematic stories.

His scope of work did not stop there. He participated in the production of 'Let's Go to Seoul, Dharma' (2004), 'The Happy Life' (2007), and 'Sunny' (2008), and his name was listed in the screenplay for 'The Throne' (2015), which starred Song Kang-ho and Yoo Ah-in. His career of experiencing production, planning, and screenwriting shows that Director Jo Cheol-hyeon was not merely a film professional staying in one field, but a creator who extensively experienced everything from the planning stage to the completion of a film.

It was in 2019 that he personally took the megaphone. He debuted as a director at the age of 60 through 'The King's Letters'. It was his first challenge to translate the experience he had accumulated over a long time as a producer and screenwriter into his own directorial language. Although it was a late directorial debut, it was also a work that directly captured the cinematic interests and awareness of history that he had harbored for a long time on the screen.

'The King's Letters' is a historical drama based on the process of King Sejong's creation of Hunminjeongeum. Song Kang-ho played King Sejong, Park Hae-il played the monk Sinmi, and the late Jeon Mi-sun played Queen Soheon. Director Jo Cheol-hyeon sought to focus on the conflicts, worries, and human aspects of the characters involved in the creation process, rather than simply depicting the familiar historical event of the creation of Hangul as a hero's achievement.

The work gathered great anticipation even before its release, but after its release, it became embroiled in controversy surrounding historical facts. In particular, as criticisms arose that the setting of highlighting the role of the monk Sinmi in the creation process of Hunminjeongeum contradicted historical records, it spread into a controversy over historical distortion. Various opinions were exchanged among audiences, the historical community, and the film industry regarding how much cinematic imagination can be allowed, and the work failed to meet expectations in terms of box office success, recording a cumulative audience of approximately 960,000 people.

At the time, Director Jo emphasized that the film was not made to disparage King Sejong. Rather, his explanation was that he wanted to show the greatness of King Sejong, who created Hangul, and the agony he must have experienced in the process, from a human perspective. He also expressed regret that the intention of the work was not sufficiently conveyed between historical facts and cinematic imagination.

'The King's Letters' remains a special work not only because it was Director Jo's first directing work but also because it is the posthumous work of the late actress Jeon Mi-sun. Jeon Mi-sun passed away in June 2019, about a month before the film's release. At the time, while mentioning Jeon Mi-sun during a press preview, Director Jo eventually choked up and could not continue speaking. For both the film professional who made works together for a long time and the actress who was with his first work as a director, 'The King's Letters' remains an inseparable memory.

After her death, Jeon Mi-sun received the Best Supporting Actress award for 'The King's Letters' at the 2019 Korean Film Producers Association Awards. Regardless of the film's box office success, the memory of the actress's final performance and the work remained with the audience for a long time. For Director Jo Cheol-hyeon, his first directing work ultimately came to have a complex meaning as both his directorial debut and the work through which he said goodbye to a fellow actress.

Director Jo Cheol-hyeon's film life was somewhat different from the path of a flashy star director. He was a film professional who built his name in production sites for a long time and completed films behind the scenes of works involving various directors, actors, and staff. Then, at the age of 60, he embarked on a new challenge as a director putting his own name at the forefront. Although it was a late start, it was an attempt to directly tell the stories of history and film that he had harbored based on his long experience.

The fact that 'The King's Letters' is a work that left controversy surrounding historical interpretation is also inseparable from his film life. However, regardless of the evaluation of the work, it is clear that Director Jo Cheol-hyeon has steadily created works through production, planning, and screenwriting in the Korean film field for over 30 years. After his directorial debut, he sought another path of creation by interpreting the subject of history in his own way.

The film professional who worked behind the scenes of films for a long time finally made a story that stood directly in front of the camera. However, as he passed away after a battle with illness only 7 years after his directorial debut, his directing journey remains with a single film, 'The King's Letters'. Looking back at the traces left by the long time built up as a producer and screenwriter and his late directorial debut, Director Jo Cheol-hyeon's name is expected to remain within the records of a field film professional who has connected large and small works of Korean cinema.

The deceased's funeral hall is set up in Room 303 of the Korea University Anam Hospital Funeral Hall. The funeral procession will take place at 7:00 AM on the 10th, and the burial site is Seoul Memorial Park.

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