Bargain Director Hopes K-Drama Fans Will Be Open to Darker Genres

When director Jeon Woo-sung first approached actor Jun Jong-seo with the script of Bargain, the Burning star hesitated. "She was skeptical and she kind of feared this experimental concept," Jeon said. Bargain, which is based on Lee Chung-hyun's 2015 short film of the same name, is experimental in more ways than one. Just like the original, the 2023 series is filmed with the one-shot technique and set in a single location: a motel that is secretly the headquarters of a human organ trafficking ring.

After several conversations with the director, Jun decided to come onboard. In Bargain, which premiered on Paramount+ Oct. 6, she plays a young woman named Joo-young  who claims to be a sex worker. But minutes into her meeting with client Hyung-soo (Jin Sun-kyu), it becomes clear that she is not the high school virgin she described to be. Joo-young helps operate the trafficking ring, and Hyung-soo quickly finds himself strapped to a gurney with his organs being auctioned off. 

Jeon said that throughout production, he worked closely with Jun and incorporated her feedback. The director had worked on the short film in 2015, and said yes to helming this retelling of the story. While the original project was roughly 14 minutes long, this series spans 6 episodes. The biggest storytelling difference? Having a group of strangers bid for his kidneys is the least of Hyung-soo's worries in this new series. A severe earthquake strikes mid-auction, and the survivors are now trapped in the wreckage. 

Jeon, who attended the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival for Bargain's North American premiere, spoke to TV Guide via a translator about how the addition of the earthquake impacted the plot. He also discussed filming with the one-shot technique and casting Park Hyung-soo and Lee Joo-young, the stars of the original short film, in this series.

TV Guide: How did that idea of adding the earthquake to the story come about? 
Jeon: When I joined the project, the concept of the earthquake was already decided upon. The Climax Studio CEO and I discussed how we can expand the story and thought about how all the characters are in some ways villains. And we thought that this natural disaster would be kind of a punishment for the villains.

Can you share more about what makes you drawn to explore the characters as villains?
Jeon: Everybody has a good and evil side to them. Nobody is truly one-sided. In the original, the character of Hyung-soo, when [you] see the ending and what happens to him, you kind of feel like oh, he deserved it. In the series, I also wanted Hyung-soo to be a nobody, a blank character that has no backstory who is just there to survive the earthquake. But for Joo-young, I felt like in the original short film, she was kind of a villain. But in this long form, we wanted to give her a backstory and give the audience a reason to empathize with her.

I also wanted to ask about the casting. Park Hyung-soo and Lee Joo-young were in the original short film and are both in this series. What made you decide to cast them?
Jeon: I knew from early on that I wanted both main leads [from the short film] to be in the series. And I wanted to give them an important part to play. 

What drew you to casting Jin Sun-kyu as the lead?
Jeon: Jin Sun-kyu, who plays Hyung-soo, I actually wrote [the screenplay] with him in mind. I was very grateful that when I handed the screenplay over he readily accepted it.

The short film was recorded with a one-take approach. Was it an easy decision to repeat that for this longer series?Jeon: From the start, I knew that I wanted to film the series in one long take. It was just a given.

What were scenes that were challenging to shoot?
Jeon: The hardest part to shoot was in the basement — especially with water, [it] was difficult. And the scenes where there was a lot of falling.

This series goes dark! I was shocked by the scene where someone's ear was being cut off. How did you decide how dark to go? What were discussions like about boundaries regarding gore and violence? 
Jeon: Overall there are violent elements to the series, it's something that we cannot avoid. But we tried to, for example, when there's the scene with the cutting of the ear — which can be very graphic — we don't actually show it, you just have to imagine. And then later in the show people are carrying the ears around but we said, make them carry it around in a plastic bag so that you don't actually see. It's all left to the imagination.

There was also the scene in the basement where bodies are strung upside down. Tell me about that. 
Jeon: I worked hard with the art directors to come up with the production design and the showing of the bodies. They were always in the screenplay. To balance it out, the bodies are hanging but they're covered in plastic. And honestly throughout the whole shooting, except for one instance where a person falls from the fifth floor, everything is a dummy. 
I also wanted to ask, are there references in the series that you think Korean viewers will have a better understanding of?
Jeon: I didn't really go out of the way to express the Koreanness in the series. The plot is very much unrealistic, it's kind of a fantasy fiction. But all the elements that I use is how I imagine, if there's a horrific crime taking place, what that would look like in Korea. And I'm sure there are certain things that fans will notice. For example, there are a lot of motels like that in the countryside of the Korea. If you've been to Korea, you will recognize [it] right away. So hopefully those are things that the fans can pick up on.

Many K-dramas that have gained international recognition have been romantic comedies. How do you hope this show will change people's perception of K-dramas? 
Jeon: Commercially speaking, a lot of the popular romantic dramas that Korea has, they're mostly from broadcast TV stations. During COVID a lot of the filmmakers went over to the TV side to work. So hopefully, fans will be more open to new genres like this and come to expect more genres like this.
All 6 episodes of Bargain are available to stream on Paramount+.