Yoon Jong Shin Reveals Why They Ultimately Chose IU As The Star Of “Persona”
Yoon Jong Shin and IU attended a press conference for their upcoming Netflix Original, titled “Persona”. “Persona” is a four-part short film series where four different directors each created a different short film with IU as the main character.
Yoon Jong Shin is the executive producer behind the series. He first thought of this special project by wanting to produce a story in a different method than songs.
“I had experience producing albums but this was my first time producing a movie. I came up with and pitched the idea for ‘Persona’.
Songs, commercials, dramas, and movies are all stories.”
— Yoon Jong Shin
The idea just came to him one day when he was researching potential movie ideas. He came up with the idea for ‘Persona’ while watching short films of famous directors.
“The start of ‘Persona’ was simple. I realized that time went by quickly when I watched these directors’ short films. They once told me, ‘You just make short films like a study or an experiment.’
In the middle of a meeting, I wondered, ‘What would it be like if multiple directors met just one actor?'”
— Yoon Jong Shin
When the time came to decide who would play the main character for all four short films, he realized that there was no one better than IU. It just made sense to him!
He called her up, she said yes, and he went to discuss the casting with the directors. They all loved her! With such a simple (yet definite) answer, ‘Persona’ was soon underway!
“From there, we wondered, ‘Who would be the main character?’ And I suddenly thought of IU.
[Mystic Entertainment’s] CEO Jo Young Cheol once worked on one of IU’s songs. He asked, ‘What about IU?’ We decided to contact her, and she said she’ll do it. That’s how it came to be.
We set IU as the main character first before meeting with the directors. We asked them, ‘How do you feel about IU?’ And they all liked her.”
— Yoon Jong Shin
As IU continues to grow as a well-establish actor as she is an artist, Yoon Jong Shin and the four directors had immense faith in her capabilities!
‘Persona’ is set to drop on April 5th.
