Internationally renowned movie director, Kim Ki Duk's actress assault charges seem to be the latest talk of the town. The Golden Lion-winning director is being sued by an unknown actress who worked in one of his past films. In various reports published by the local Korean dailies, the actress has alleged that the director assaulted her with a slap on her face during the shoot in 2013. She has also claimed that the 3 Iron director even forced her to shoot a sex scene (which was reportedly not a part of the script) with the male lead.
It is also speculated that the incident took place during the filming of Kim's 2013 film Moebius. Furthermore, the actress did not make it to the release of the film as she quit midway and was replaced by another star. The unnamed actress also alleged that the director forced her to grab the male actor's genitals during her scene.
Shedding more light on the issue, All Kpop confirmed the issue with a representative from the Korean Actor's Union. "It is not completely false to say that there wasn't a scene where the actress had to grab the actor's penis. However, that scene was originally agreed to be shot with the actress grabbing a "penis shaped object" in place of the actor's actual penis." The representative further stated that though everyone on the set agreed to the terms, director Kim adamantly forced the actress to touch the actor's penis and not the imitation.
However, Kim Ki Duk's representative has denied the charges and tagged it as a 'false statement.' But, he agreed that slapping the actress was true to certain extent. He further agreed that director Kim slapped the actress on the set but that was a part of the coaching method to enact a particular scene. "Kim Ki Duk never forced the actress to perform a sex scene that wasn't part of the script," the rep clarified. The award winning director is likely to hold a press conference soon to clarify the issue.
According to Yonhap News Agency, prosecutors at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office are looking into the case. The issue has once again highlighted the darker side of the film industry where sexism, gender inequality, assault against women and harassment are a common practice.
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