Director of 'The Assassin(s)' says film's intent 'severely distorted' as cast faces backlash

A still from the film "The Assassin(s)." [Hive MEDIAcorp]

As controversy over the historical accuracy of "The Assassin(s)" — a film based on the 1974 shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo — continues to intensify, director Heo Jin-ho has spoken out, saying the work's intent has been "severely distorted."

According to film industry sources Wednesday, Heo appeared on the investigative YouTube channel "Bongjiwook's Off the Record," where he said he "never imagined it would be disparaged to this extent." He added that he was heartbroken to see the cast and crew, who had worked so hard on the film, now "suffering serious distress" after the production was branded with a "historical distortion frame."

Heo flatly denied claims circulating in some quarters that the film implicates former President Park Chung-hee as the mastermind behind the shooting. "I did not make a film suggesting that former President Park ordered the killing of first lady Yuk," he said. "That would be logically contradictory and implausible." He drew a line between political intent and artistic license, saying the film explored a "cinematic hypothesis" based on records of shell casings and bullet trajectories previously examined in terrestrial television documentaries, and that it had "no specific political purpose."

Despite Heo's explanation, the fallout has spread to the cast and their professional activities. Comments on a YouTube advertisement featuring lead actor Yoo Hae-jin — who plays a detective investigating the case — were disabled after the video was flooded with protest messages. Lee Min-ho, who plays a rookie reporter, and supporting actor Ryu Hye-young also faced a wave of criticism on their personal SNS accounts. Fellow actors Kim Go-eun, Lee Young-ae and Park Byung-eun, who attended the VIP preview and praised the film — Kim said it made her feel "grateful for the present" — were also targeted by critics who took issue with their endorsements.

The dispute has now moved into legal territory. Lee Jong-bae, a former Seoul city council member, filed a complaint Tuesday with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against director Heo, the head of production company Hive MEDIAcorp, and the film's screenwriter, alleging defamation through the publication of false facts. Lee argued that the film's title — rendered in the plural form "The Assassin(s)" — implies the existence of a perpetrator beyond the known gunman Moon Se-gwang, and that the film plants in audiences the perception that the late former President Park was behind the attack, thereby damaging his reputation. The legal action follows an earlier demand by the Park Chung-hee Presidential Memorial Foundation for a public apology and an immediate halt to screenings nationwide.

Hive MEDIAcorp has issued a series of official statements in its defense. The production team said the film "does not identify any specific individual as the mastermind behind the incident anywhere in its runtime, nor does it present any hypothesis as historical fact." The company also pushed back against claims circulating in some political circles that the film was backed by Chinese capital, stating it was "an independently produced work financed 100 percent by domestic investment" and urging the public to refrain from spreading unverified information.

The controversy has also spilled into online rating platforms. The film holds strong marks among verified viewers — a 91 percent Golden Egg rating on CGV and an 8.3 score on Naver's verified audience rating — but its portal rating has plummeted to 2.2 out of 10 after a coordinated low-rating campaign by non-viewers. The backlash has moved beyond criticism of the film itself to targeting individual cast members' SNS accounts and calling for advertiser boycotts, sharply raising the temperature of the conflict.

shee@heraldcorp.com