The Director Who Spent $34,000 of His Own Money on His Crew

By the time director Jang Hang-jun appeared on tvN's Yu Quiz on the Block last Tuesday, his film The Man Living with the King (왕과 사는 남자) had already crossed 14.92 million tickets sold. It passed the ten million mark on March 6. For a Korean historical drama — a genre that tends to attract domestic audiences but rarely breaks into the upper tier of box office records — the numbers were remarkable. What viewers did not yet know was the kind of set Jang ran to get there.

The episode 336 "Hit-Makers" special brought together people behind some of the year's most successful entertainment, and Jang's appearance — alongside actor Yu Ji-tae, who plays Han Myeong-hoe in the film — quickly became a masterclass in stories that were never meant to go public.

The Heartwarming Story He Asked His Actor to Tell First

The dynamic between Jang and Yu Ji-tae became clear from the opening minutes. Yu Ji-tae, who has worked in Korean film and television since his debut in 1998, noted that the director had reached out before the broadcast: "He told me, 'I hear you're going on Yu Quiz — can you make some good stories about me?'" The studio broke into laughter. Jang, undeterred, then appeared himself to tell those stories directly.

The first involved money. Before a single frame of The Man Living with the King was shot, and before any investment had been secured, Jang took his production staff on a trip to Europe — entirely out of his own pocket. The cost came to approximately 50 million Korean won, roughly $34,000 USD. His explanation on the show was characteristically matter-of-fact: "I thought investing would fall through anyway, so I figured I'd give the staff a few months of good memories." He also paid for team meals, drinks, and accommodation out of pocket throughout the production. "That's the kind of heartwarming story I want to talk about," he said, to extended applause.

He also revised the script for months before any formal production contract was in place. In an industry where creative labor without a signed agreement is a significant personal risk, Jang committed to the project on his own terms and his own schedule. The eventual result — a film that has now sold nearly fifteen million tickets — suggests the gamble paid off, though he had no way of knowing that when he booked the flights to Europe.

The Actor Who Gained 100kg and Paid for It

Yu Ji-tae's side of the story added a different dimension to how the film got made. His role as Han Myeong-hoe — the historical court official whose scheming drives much of the film's conflict — required a physical transformation that went further than Jang had asked for. The director had envisioned a slimmer, more understated version of the character. Yu Ji-tae had other ideas.

"I pushed toward almost 100 kilograms," Yu told host Yu Jae-seok. The weight gain was self-directed, built on the actor's conviction that Han Myeong-hoe should carry physical presence as well as psychological menace. "I thought a villain of that scale needed to feel imposing." Jang's response to seeing his actor's interpretation — an actor who had quietly ignored his director's preference for a slimmer approach — was, according to Yu Ji-tae, acceptance. "His greatest quality is his receptiveness," Yu said. "He doesn't shut things down. He takes them in."

The physical cost was real. Yu Ji-tae disclosed on the show that the months of sustained weight gain left him dealing with high cholesterol, acute gastritis, and colitis simultaneously. "I had everything that's bad for you," he said. The role was debilitating in ways the audience never saw on screen — which may be part of why the performance landed so effectively. By the time he appeared in the film, there was nothing comfortable about what he was doing.

A Director Who Hid in His Own Movie

The Yu Quiz appearance also surfaced a detail that even dedicated viewers of the film had likely missed. Jang Hang-jun appears in The Man Living with the King — not on screen, but as a voice. During production, the crew needed the voice of an elderly eunuch for a single line of dialogue: "Han Myeong-hoe is arriving, Your Majesty." Rather than cast a separate actor, Jang recorded it himself. "I thought I'd give it a try," he said, with the tone of a man who had clearly enjoyed the joke.

The reveal generated one of the episode's bigger moments. Host Yu Jae-seok, who had apparently not known, performed an immediate impression of the line, which sent the studio into chaos. Somewhere in one of the year's most-attended Korean films, the director's voice is delivering a single line to announce the villain's entrance.

What the Numbers Mean

The Man Living with the King is a historical drama set during the reign of King Danjong, one of the most tragic figures in Joseon dynasty history. The film centers on Han Myeong-hoe's political maneuvering and the king's powerlessness against it. Historical dramas of this period tend to draw on a well-informed domestic audience, but reaching nearly fifteen million admissions puts the film in an entirely different category — among the all-time top performers in Korean cinema.

For Yu Ji-tae, the film represents a personal milestone as significant as the box office numbers. He has appeared in Korean film and television for close to three decades, including internationally recognized work in films like Old Boy. The Man Living with the King is his first film to reach ten million admissions. He made note of the irony on the show: the film that finally got him there is the one where he played the villain. "It took 28 years and a character everyone hated," he said.

He also gave partial credit to the show itself. "I think Yu Quiz helped push us over ten million," he said — a half-joking reference to how an early appearance on the popular talk show helped generate renewed audience interest during the film's theatrical run.

The Set He Actually Wanted to Run

What tied the Yu Quiz appearance together was not the numbers or the box office records, but the picture it painted of how the film was made. A director who funded a team trip to Europe before production was confirmed. An actor who transformed his body beyond what was asked and paid the price in his health. A script worked on for months without a contract. And a director who quietly voiced a single line of dialogue in his own film because no one else was around to do it.

Jang Hang-jun has been making films in Korea since the 1990s. The Man Living with the King, at nearly fifteen million admissions, is the largest audience he has ever reached. The stories from the set suggest it did not happen by accident — and that the 50 million won he spent before a single camera rolled was, in retrospect, among the better investments he has made.