'The WONDERfools' Director Confirms No Edits to CHA EUN-WOO's Scenes: "He Was Passionate on Set"

Director Yoo In-sik of 'The WONDERfools' stated that he focused solely on the quality of the production, regardless of the "tax controversy" surrounding CHA EUN-WOO.

On the morning of the 12th, during the press conference for the Netflix series 'The WONDERfools' (written by Heo Da-joong, directed by Yoo In-sik) held at the JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square in Seoul, Director Yoo shared his thoughts on encountering the controversy involving CHA EUN-WOO ahead of the show's release.

Regarding the controversy, Director Yoo revealed, "I heard about it through news reports when the editing and post-production for 'The WONDERfools' were already nearly complete." He continued, "This project has been a long-held dream of mine, and everyone involved worked incredibly hard to capture every single second of footage. Therefore, we prioritized the overall quality of the drama during the editing and post-production process," explaining that there were no cuts or reductions to CHA EUN-WOO's screen time due to the controversy.

Director Yoo added, "I would like to ask for your understanding regarding my inability to provide specific comments on personal issues," keeping his remarks on the controversy brief.

'The WONDERfools' is a superpower comic adventure set in 1999, where a group of neighborhood "fools"—'Cha-ni' (Park Eunbin), 'Kyung-hoon' (Choi Dae-hoon), and 'Robin' (Im Sung-jae)—and a local government official, 'Woon-jung' (CHA EUN-WOO), who accidentally gain superpowers, struggle to save the world from villains threatening their peace.

While 'The WONDERfools' has generated anticipation for the reunion of 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' director Yoo In-sik with actors Park Eunbin, Choi Dae-hoon, and Im Sung-jae, the biggest risk the show faces is CHA EUN-WOO. Initially, 'The WONDERfools' was highly anticipated as it was a project CHA EUN-WOO completed filming before his military enlistment, but the atmosphere shifted following his recent tax controversy.

Although CHA EUN-WOO apologized and took steps to resolve the situation by paying approximately 13 billion KRW in additional taxes, negative public sentiment remains. Concerns have been raised about whether the show will be negatively impacted, but the production team decided to keep CHA EUN-WOO's scenes as they were to maintain the quality of the work.

Reflecting on his experience with CHA EUN-WOO on set, Director Yoo expressed his satisfaction, saying, "Beyond expectations, both emotional and physical acting were new challenges for all the actors, not just CHA EUN-WOO. To ensure the overall ensemble works, these aspects had to be executed well, and CHA EUN-WOO, like the other actors, approached it with great passion. I am satisfied with the results."

'The WONDERfools' is scheduled to be released on Netflix on Friday, the 15th, at 5:00 PM.

[Photo = Reporter Baek Seung-cheol, Netflix]

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Sun-ae)