Lee Dong-jun: The Cruel Ending and Twist of the 5.2 Billion Won Investment 'Clementine'

He jumped into film production by even selling his Gangnam apartment, but what returned were disastrous box office results and overwhelming debt. Actor Lee Dong-jun revealed the painful past of the movie 'Clementine,' which follows his name like a label. Despite investing as much as 5.2 billion won and casting Hollywood action star Steven Seagal, the film could not avoid a massive box office failure. However, as time has passed, this work has instead survived as a synonym for internet memes. It is a case where a failed movie has been engraved in the public's memory in an unexpected way.

On the SBS show 'Same Bed, Different Dreams 2: You Are My Destiny' broadcast on the 13th, actor Song Jin-woo, Lee Dong-jun's nephew, mentioned his uncle's film production story. Song Jin-woo stated, "My parents also appeared," revealing that his mother played a woman brought to a police station and his father played a police officer. As memories of the time when even his family participated in the film were summoned, Lee Dong-jun responded with a bitter joke. He confessed, "If your mom and dad hadn't appeared, it wouldn't have failed," adding, "The reason for the box office failure was that we didn't use proper actors because we were trying to save production costs." Laughter erupted in the studio at his self-deprecating evaluation of his own work.

Song Jin-woo also pointed out the cause of the film's box office failure by mentioning Steven Seagal. He trailed off, saying, "We poured all the money into Steven Seegal, so the rest of them..." His point was that because a massive amount of money was poured into hiring a world-class action star, they could not invest sufficiently in other areas. While they made a bold move with flashy casting, it was followed by evaluations that they showed limits in actually raising the overall quality of the work.

The price of film production was harsh. Song Jin-woo surprised the cast by revealing, "My uncle even sold his apartment in Gangnam." Kim Gura also mentioned that Lee Dong-jun even did a so-called 'extreme performance' in Busan to pay off his debts. This part makes one guess how much Lee Dong-jun suffered to clear his debts after the box office failure, having staked a significant portion of his life on a single film. His passion for the work led to the sale of his property, and as a result, that choice returned as an economic burden he had to bear for a long time.

'Clementine' is a work released in May 2004, for which Lee Dong-jun took charge of planning, production, and the lead role. At the time, it drew attention due to the appearance of Hollywood action star Steven Seagal, but compared to the 1.2 billion won paid for his appearance fee out of the 5.2 billion won production cost, his actual screen time was limited to about 5 minutes. The presence of the highly anticipated global star was far from enough to drive the entire work. Combined with a cliché story, loose development, and direction evaluated as anachronistic, it failed to win the audience's choice. It left a miserable report card, with the audience count staying at about 60,000 and sales only reaching the 200 million won level.

However, the fate of this movie did not completely end after its theatrical run. As ironic expressions such as "I was cured of cancer after watching this movie" and "I can't be the only one to suffer, I'll give it a rating of 10" spread in online communities, 'Clementine' began to be consumed as a so-called meme movie. It is a method of creating laughter by flipping criticism, appearing to praise the work seriously while actually being sarcastic. The movie, which was ignored during its box office run, gained a unique vitality within internet culture and has come to be discussed as one of the representative cases of memes in the Korean film industry.

Song Jin-woo comforted his uncle in that although he suffered great financial loss, he certainly made his name known to the public. He joked that the Naver rating is in the 9 range, and Lee Dong-jun also did not hide his love-hate relationship with the work. He said, "It's a movie I made, but looking back, I made it quite strangely," while adding, "I don't regret it now." He further emphasized that even though the movie failed, it served as an opportunity to make his name clearly known, saying, "When you think of Lee Dong-jun, think 'Clementine,' and when you think of Lee Dong-jun, think 'Taekwondo'."

'Clementine' is a painful failure when judged by the standard of recovering production costs. Neither the passion of the producer who even sold his Gangnam apartment nor the bold move of putting a Hollywood star at the forefront could save the box office. However, the film shows the paradox that a failed work is not necessarily forgotten. As criticism and ridicule turned into memes, the name of the work instead lived on for a long time. For Lee Dong-jun, 'Clementine' has come to have two ironic faces: a wound exchanged for his property and a representative work that cannot be erased even if he tries.

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