At the center is Lim Eun-jung, CEO of the new production company Onda Works.
“Director Jang Hang-jun said in an interview that he joined because I persuaded him. So on opening day, I worried, ‘What if I end up looking like a con artist?’” Lim said. “I’m deeply grateful that this small spark I set off has received such big love. I’m thankful to everyone I met along the way — and above all, to audiences.”
Lim said she founded Onda Works after years of thinking about how to better support creators and see projects through. While she found producing rewarding, she said there were moments inside a company when it was hard to take full responsibility to the end.
“I majored in Korean language and literature, and since high school I thought I should make stories,” she said. “As I studied the film industry, I realized what I’m good at is recognizing what people do well, so I focused on producing. Even when I worked at CJ ENM, my biggest goal was getting writers’ work out into the world, but I felt there would be limits inside a company. I thought I needed to be in a position where I could keep my promises if I wanted to keep working in film.”
She said the industry was struggling when she considered leaving, and people around her tried to stop her. Still, she said the uncertainty made her decision clearer.
“At the time, the industry situation wasn’t good, so everyone told me not to quit,” Lim said. “I heard a lot of, ‘No one is investing — what are you going to believe in?’ It was a livelihood issue for me, too. But I quit and traveled to Portugal for about a month. I love surfing, and when waves start coming in, surfers get excited and say, ‘Onda, onda.’ I thought it was cute and figured if I ever started a company, I’d use the name ‘Onda.’ Then the first surf shop I visited in Portugal was actually named ‘Onda.’ I asked what it meant, and they said it means ‘wave.’ In that moment I thought, ‘This is fate.’ That’s how, on April 1, 2023 — April Fools’ Day — I founded Onda Works, like a lie that came true.”
“The Man Who Lives With the King” was a project Lim had carried since before launching the company. She said she was especially attached to it as an original period film without a source work, and she wanted to tell a personal story alongside a major historical moment.
“I planned this project when I was at CJ ENM,” she said. “It’s an original work with no source material, and it was an item I really wanted to make with meaning. I’m not enough of a period-drama fanatic to call myself one, but I wanted to tell the story of an individual standing next to a big historical event. My favorite films are ‘The Lives of Others’ and ‘The King’s Speech,’ and I wondered if we could tell that kind of story in a Korean historical film. I started planning from the idea: What story would unfold if Eom Heung-do watched Danjong up close and began to feel something different?”
The project stalled during the pandemic, she said, and at one point she told writer Hwang Seong-gu to take the screenplay rights and proceed elsewhere if an opportunity arose.
“Hwang delivered the first draft in early 2020,” Lim said. “But it was the pandemic, and for several reasons production stopped. I told Hwang to take the rights and move forward at another company if there was a chance. But I think Hwang felt it would be inappropriate to do that because the script began with my proposal. So I said I would look for the right timing within five years. After that I started my own company and prepared this as our first film.”
Lim said she chose Jang to direct because she believed the film’s core was the characters’ emotions and point of view, not the events themselves.
“I thought the key was the perspective on the characters and the theme,” she said. “It was important how Danjong, seen through Eom Heung-do’s eyes, and Danjong’s emotions in that situation intersect. I thought about who could express those feelings most warmly, and I decided Director Jang Hang-jun was right. The warm tone I felt in ‘Rebound’ was also a big reason.”
She said it was difficult for a new company to mount a period drama, given the high costs and uncertain commercial prospects. Lim said she needed to persuade experienced partners and investors, and the project took shape after multiple revisions.
“I told BA Entertainment CEO Jang Won-seok that I wanted to co-produce on the condition that Director Jang Hang-jun would direct,” she said. “At first, he saw it as a commercial risk. So I showed him revised versions three times, and through that process he recognized the potential and joined. Showbox also listened to my project, and they agreed with the judgment that audiences can look for meaningful stories, not only provocative ones.”
After release, Lim said she was struck by repeat viewings among Gen Z audiences — especially middle and high school students.
“I think a long-built longing for theaters may have played a role,” she said. “Recently, several films have helped people feel the fun of watching in theaters again. This film also has many elements audiences can enjoy together in a theater, and it’s a film that makes it possible to talk with different people afterward. The experience itself — audiences laughing and reacting together — seems to have reminded people of the appeal of theaters. What surprised me most was Gen Z repeat viewing. I’ve often seen repeat viewing among die-hard fans, but it was truly welcome to see middle and high school audiences doing it. For someone like me who wondered whether the next generation would even exist for theaters, I think this is very meaningful.”
Lim pointed to actor Park Ji-hoon as a key factor in connecting the character of Danjong to today’s audiences.
“In the end, the combination of actor Park Ji-hoon and the character Danjong played a big role,” she said. “The CEO of the production company behind ‘Weak Hero’ told me good things about Park, so I had been watching him with interest. From the casting stage, I had a strong feeling he could become a Danjong that stays in people’s memories for a long time.”
Lim said she has multiple projects in development and plans to move between period and contemporary stories.
“First of all, I have a lot of film ideas,” she said. “I’ve built a long friendship with director Kim Eui-seok of ‘After My Death,’ and we’re preparing a genre film set in Gyeongseong that takes place on a train. Another is an action film with director Ahn Tae-jin of ‘The Night Owl,’ set in a border area during the Joseon era. The films I can talk about right now happen to be period pieces. The series projects I’m planning are almost all contemporary.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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