King and the Clown (Hangul: 왕의 남자; hanja: 王의 男子; RR: Wang-ui Namja) is a 2005 South Korean historical drama film, starring Kam Woo-sung, Jung Jin-young and Lee Joon-gi. It was adapted from the 2000 stage play, Yi ("You") about Yeonsangun of Joseon, a Joseon dynasty king and a court clown who mocks him. It was released on 29 December 2005, runs for 119 minutes; and distributed domestically by Cinema Service and internationally by CJ Entertainment.
The film was chosen as South Korea's official submission for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. With over 12.3 million tickets sold, it is the sixth highest grossing film in South Korea.
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Set in the late 15th century during the reign of King Yeonsan, two male street clowns and tightrope walkers, Jangsaeng (Kam Woo-sung) and Gong-gil (Lee Joon-gi), are part of an entertainer troupe. Their manager prostitutes the beautiful Gong-gil to rich customers, and Jangsaeng is sickened by this practice. After Gong-gil kills the manager in defense of Jangsaeng, the pair flee to Seoul, where they form a new group with three other street performers.
Together the group comes up with a skit mocking some members of the royal court, including the king and his new concubine Jang Noksu. After they are arrested for treason, Jangsaeng makes a deal with Choseon, who turns out to be one of the king's servants, either to make the king laugh at their skit or to be executed. They perform their skit for the king, but the three minor performers are too terrified to perform well. Gong-gil and Jangsaeng barely save themselves with one last joke at the king, who laughs and then makes them part of his court. The king falls for the effeminate Gong-gil, whom he calls to his private chambers often to perform finger puppet shows. Jangsaeng becomes jealous of this relationship. Meanwhile, the king becomes more and more unstable. He makes the clowns perform a skit depicting how his mother, the favorite concubine of the former king, was forced to take poison after being betrayed by other jealous concubines. The king then slaughters these concubines at the end of the play. Jangsaeng asks Gong-gil to leave with him and the gang at once before the king kills them too during one of his homicidal fits. Gong-gil, who initially sympathized with the king, begs the tyrant to give him his freedom but the king refuses.
The king's main concubine, Jang Noksu, becomes enraged by the attention the king has been lavishing on Gong-gil. The council members try to have him killed during a hunting trip, resulting in the death of one of the members of the street performing team. Days after the hunting trip, the king forcibly kisses Gong-gil. Then, Jang Noksu tries to have him jailed by having flyers run in Gong-gil's handwriting insulting the king severely. Jangsaeng takes the blame for the crime for which Gong-gil has been falsely accused and is imprisoned.
Choseon secretly releases Jangsaeng, telling him that he should forget Gong-gil and leave the palace. But Jangsaeng ignores the advice and returns to walk on his tightrope across palace rooftops, this time openly and loudly mocking the king. The king shoots arrows at him while Gong-gil tries in vain to stop him. Jangsaeng falls and is caught, and has his eyes seared with burning iron as punishment before being thrown into prison again. Gong-gil attempts suicide, but his life is saved by the palace doctors. The king has Jangsaeng walk his tightrope blind. As Jangsaeng tells the story of his and Gong-gil's trials and tribulations while balancing on the rope, Gong-gil runs out to join him. Gong-gil asks Jangsaeng what he would like to return as in his next life and Jangsaeng replies that he would still choose to be a clown. Gong-gil answers that he too would return as nothing else but a clown.
Throughout the film, the tyranny of the king and corruption of his courts is revealed. At the very end there is a popular uprising resulting in an attack on the palace, and as people storm the court, Jangsaeng and Gong-gil jump up from the rope together, and Jangsaeng tosses away his fan. The last scene is a happy one where Jangsaeng and Gong-gil appear to be reunited with their clowning troupe, including the friend who died earlier during the hunting incident. The whole company jokes, sings and dances, as they all walk away cheerfully into the distance
The film was adapted from the Korean stage play Yi, written by Kim Tae-woong, centered around Gong-gil, the feminine actor. It was based on a small passage from the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty that briefly mentions the king's favorite clown, Gong-gil, whereas Jang-saeng is a fictional character. In the Joseon Dynasty, "Yi" was what the king called his beloved subjects. Since first staged in 2000, the play has won numerous awards, including the best stage play of the year, best new actor (for Oh Man-seok) and top 3 best plays of the year by the National Theater Association of Korea, and best stage play for 2001 by the Dong-A Art Foundation.
The movie is referred to by various titles. It is sometimes known as The King's Man (the literal English translation of the Korean title). In Chinese, the title is "王的男人" or "王和小丑", and in Japanese, it is known as "王の男". It is also known as The Royal Jester in English, as the movie's English translator found it more fitting than the original title.
n South Korea, the film sold a total of 12.3 million tickets, including 3,659,525 in Seoul, in its four months of screening, which ended on 18 April 2006. It ranked first and grossed ₩6.5 billion in its first week of release and grossed a total of ₩72.6 billion after 12 weeks of screening. Its worldwide grossed is US$74.4 million.
The low-budget film, made for ₩4 billion, surpassed the 10 million viewer mark on 2 February, received good reviews and positive word-of-mouth for being well-made with great acting. Leading to its commercial success, which is remarkable, considering its focus on traditional arts with homosexual themes. It also lacked the big budget, high profile actors and director compared to other films such as Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War and Silmido, who have both surpassed 10 million viewers.
This film was chosen by the Korea Film Council-appointed committee as South Korea's submission for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was selected over two other films: The Host and Time for its overall aesthetic and commercial quality.
The film propelled the then unknown Lee Joon-gi into Asia-wide stardom.
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