Jung Jin-young on Lee Joon-ik: '25 years, and he still has a bit of that con-artist quality'

He showed up at my house and talked for three hours

Jung Jin-young sat down on KBS 1TV's 인생이 영화 on October 18 to talk about 아버지의 집밥, the theatrical film he made with director Lee Joon-ik. He spent most of it roasting his longtime collaborator.

The two first met in 2001, when Lee was still working as a producer. Jung recalled that Lee came to him for 달마야 놀자 and he turned the offer down. Lee's response was simple: show up at Jung's front door, drag him to a café, and talk for three hours straight until he said yes.

"He speaks very well," Jung said on air. "His old nickname in Chungmuro was 'Talking Machine.'" He added that Lee hates that nickname because, as Lee puts it, "that means he's a con artist." Jung wasn't letting him off the hook: "He does have some of that quality."

Six projects, one long-running dynamic

Since that first café negotiation, the two have made five films together: 황산벌, 왕의 남자, 즐거운 인생, 평양성, 님은 먼 곳에. More recently they worked on the drama 욘더. Jung described a period where he functioned almost like Lee's exclusive actor. "When planning, he would say 'Understood, I'll wait' and wait for me."

The show's liner noted that Lee has said in interviews, "Actor Jung Jin-young always complains about why he has to do this. But when I ask him, he does everything." Twenty-five years in and the dynamic apparently hasn't changed.

From 61 short-form episodes to a cinema cut

아버지의 집밥 is adapted from a webtoon by author Gorita. Lee Joon-ik directed a 61-episode short-form drama version, which was then edited into the theatrical cut. The short-form run was invited to the Bucheon International Film Festival's short-form section, where all episodes were screened back-to-back—roughly two hours and forty minutes total—with no audience members leaving mid-screening. Jung said the idea of a theatrical release came up that same evening at the after-party.

His character is a shoe repairman. "He does handle the knife well," Jung noted.

인생이 영화 airs every Sunday night at 10:20 PM on KBS 1TV.