Director Lee Joo-young accuses Coupang Play of tampering with S.Korean drama 'Anna'

▲This photo, provided by Coupang Play, shows, a poster of Anna. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲This photo, provided by Coupang Play, shows, a scene from Anna. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲This photo, shows, cast members of Anna. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, August 3 (Yonhap) -- Accusation against South Korean Over The Top service Coupang Play has surfaced regarding the shortening of the episodes of S. Korean drama “Anna” from 8 episodes to 6, without director’s consent.

Director Lee Joo-young who wrote and arranged the scenario of “Anna” claimed “Coupang Play has ignored directors opinion on the drama and tampered with ‘Anna’ by editing without consent, therefore ruining the series.” on Wednesday.

According to the statement released through director Lee Joo-young’s attorney from lawfirm Siwoo he showed his frustration, “By Coupang Play editing ‘Anna’ to fit in to 6 episode, it has destroyed the series to a point where I can no longer except it as the same work I have created.” adding “I am writing this statement because, I cannot tolerate anymore as a creator of the original piece.”

Director Lee Joo-young, worked on the script of “Anna” starting in November of 2017 to July of 2021, total of over 3 years, and filmed from October of 2021 to end of March 2022.

Director Lee Joo-young claims that production went as the provider Coupang Play has agreed on, even until the end of the production Coupang Play did not address anything regarding four of the episode which has been edited.

However, according to director Lee Joo-young, Coupang Play has announced on June 7, that they will go through editorial stage with different director and editorial crew.

“I could not let my name be printed on something that I have not seen before. Therefore I have contacted Coupang Play multiple times to remove my name from the credit, but I was ignored.” addressed director Lee Joo-young.

The statement director Lee Joo-young published with through his attorney, Lee Joo-young addresses that he wants all of the Coupang Play’s staff members to publically apologize for the incident, and release all of the 8 original episodes he has created under the director’s edition. Also he wants Coupang Play to make sure that incidents like this will never happen again.

After “Anna” premiered through Coupang Play in June 24, director Lee Joo-young sent out his statement to Coupang Play multiple times, but they never replied back, therefore director Lee Joo-young decided to go public with the case.

Coupang Play refuted all the accusations by addressing the situation “After reviewing the provisional edited version of ‘Anna,’ Coupang Play carefully requested director Lee Joo-young to make some changes from February to May but none of the feedback were reflected throughout the series.”

Moreover, Coupang Play continued on with their rebuttal by stating, “We came to a conclusion that it is very hard to create a content with popular appeal if we were to edit with the director himself, therefore we decided to re edit the episodes.” adding “Although we were getting prepared to address our side of the story after director sent us the certificate of contents on July 27, it was impossible to reply back within two days for the complicated matter.

South Korean drama “Anna” shows how small simple lie can lead one to live a completely different life in the end. South Korean singer and actress Bae Suzy’s fascinating acting with director Lee Joo-young’s delicate skills drew a lot of public attention.

Director Lee Joo-young started making name for himself after directing “A Single Rider” starring Lee Byung-hun in 2017. “Anna” is director Lee Joo-young’s first work back since “A Single Rider.”

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Joonha Yoo.)

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