Marta Balaga There was no escaping K-content in Cannes this year, with South Korea delivering well-received Canneseries competition title “Bargain,” MIPTV’s showcase of new formats, all hoping to dethrone “The Masked Singer,” Kortop Media’s “Midnight Horror: Different Nights,” “Pale Moon,” sold by KT Studiogenie and, finally, CJ ENM’s “Island.” Co-created by Bae Jong and Jang Jeong Do, the show – produced by Studio Dragon and YLAB – is based on a popular comic book, first published in 1997.
It has since been turned into webtoons, web novels and dramas, always combining the fantastical with the ordinary. “We designed a unique fantasy world [to accommodate] drama based on mystical folktales of Jeju Island,” explains Jang Jeong Do, also serving as the show’s executive producer.
Noting that while its setting is famous for beautiful tourist spots – with one of the show’s first scenes depicting a wedding photoshoot gone horribly wrong – it’s also “a land with a painful, ancient history.” Perfect for a story about unlikely heroes coming together to fight evil, save the world and defy their own destinies in the process. “Island’ is filled with flashy spectacles and action-oriented elements, but it was also necessary to [root] these characters in reality.
It was important to make it clear for the viewers why they have to fight,” he says. Kim Nam-gil, Lee Da-hee – as a heiress sent to the island by her father following a scandal and swiftly targeted by lust demons – Cha Eun-woo and Sung Joon star, with possible breakout Huh Jung Hee making a splash on Canneseries’ pink carpet.
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