Running Turtle and Hot Young Bloods director Lee Yeon Woo’s new film Hometown is on the verge of running aground due to the unprecedented situation of the director himself getting sentenced to prison.
The production of Hometown, which was originally planned to start filming in March, might go up in smoke. An official shared, “After the director was sentenced to prison, a large number of staff members have left the team. The production company is trying to hold onto the actors and staff, but it’s not easy.” Actors who confirmed their appearances because of their friendship with the director Lee are also facing trouble.
Amid the battle over the rights of his scenario with the production company, director Lee was put on trial for falsely accusing the company with false accusation. He was sentenced to six months in prison in the first trial earlier this month and was arrested in court. He was bailed on the 16th, and the appeal trial is currently underway without detention.
The case began in 2014. At that time, director Lee signed a contract with production company A to transfer the rights to the scenario he wrote for 100 million KRW and received a down payment of 30 million KRW. Later in 2018, he handed over the same scenario’s intellectual property rights to production company B for the same price and received a down payment of 50 million KRW.
When rumors of company B producing a movie with the scenario surfaced in the industry, company A filed for an injunction against B. In the process, B protested to director Lee, and Lee filed a complaint with the police in May 2018 against CEO Kim of company A on charges of fraud and business embezzlement. In response, Kim submitted the contract signed by Lee as evidence, and director Lee filed an additional complaint in September 2018, claiming that Kim forged the contract. Since then, the investigation has cleared A of all charges, and director Lee was found guilty of his false accusations.
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