My Way prevails over legal battle, continues filming

by javabeans

The 30 billion won blockbuster war film My Way — notably starring the much-beloved Jang Dong-gun (Good Morning, President) — has encountered some production difficulties and legal wrangling, but has now managed to overcome them.

The film had been entangled in a civil case when suit was brought against producers by a writer, Mr. Kim, requesting an injunction to halt production. Kim alleged infringement of copyright, stating that he had given his script to the production company in January 2008 and had signed a contract with them, but was not paid properly. He therefore applied for the injunction on the film, which is currently filming.

This past week, the request was dismissed by the court, which indicated that the film had been in production since October and had already sunk more than 10 billion won into the project. Stopping it now would result in great financial losses to investors and would likely kill the project. The court added that Kim still had the avenue open to him to sue on different grounds, for compensation of damages and copyright violation.

My Way is an epic war film that has assembled a cast of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese actors to portray the story of Japanese soldiers conscripted into World War II and forced to fight for Germany’s Nazi forces, and depicts the famed Normandy invasion. Sounds like an intense story, taken from a little-known slice of history; can’t wait to see what they do with it.

In addition to Jang, the movie also Japanese actor Odagiri Joe. It had once cast Sohn Ye-jin in the lead role, but significant story changes (resulting in a reduced role for the female lead) caused her to drop out, and now the story focuses on the “intertwining fates and friendship between two men” (Jang and Odagiri).

While I would’ve loved to see Sohn and Jang acting together, the shift in focus piques my interest more — imagine if the weak love story of Road No. 1 had been moved aside to allow the boys’ rivalry and friendship to have more of the attention. It’s also not a bad idea considering that the producers also gave us the blockbuster hit Taegukgi (also starring Jang, alongside Won Bin), the heart-wrenching war film about two brothers caught up in the war between North and South. And while romantic love is a compelling force, wartime brotherhood is sure to tug the heartstrings every time. Prepare to bawl your eyes out!

My Way is aiming for a December release.

Via E Daily

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