On March 26.3, a Korean media reported that actor Kim Soo Hyun received 800 million won (about 14,7 billion VND) in salary for each episode of the TV series "Queen of Tears" ( Queen of Tears), or 12,8 billion won for the entire 16-episode series. This number is equivalent to 1/3 of the film's production cost of about 40 billion won.
On the same afternoon, the production company of tvN's "Queen of Tears", Studio Dragon, denied the rumors. The company said: "The information that Kim Soo Hyun received 800 million won in salary for each episode is completely untrue. Far different from reality."
After that, StarNews said that in fact, Kim Soo Hyun signed a contract to play "Queen of Tears" with a salary of 300 million won/episode (about 5,5 billion VND).
An official familiar with the producers of “Queen of Tears” told StarNews: “800 million won per episode is an absurdly high amount of money. In terms of appearance fees per episode, Kim Soo Hyun's salary has actually decreased a lot compared to his previous work."
Previously, in 2021, Kim Soo Hyun received a salary of up to 500 million won per episode when appearing in the original film of the online platform Coupang Play, "One Ordinary Day".
The official emphasized: "One Ordinary Day had 8 episodes at that time and the contract was made in an unprecedented way, because this was the debut work of the Coupang Play platform."
The fact that Kim Soo Hyun's salary is set lower than in previous works is also a measure to reduce the burden of production costs in the drama industry, which has been struggling recently.
An official said: "If an actor receives a salary of 800 million won per episode, how will he take care of other actors' appearance fees and staff salaries?" He added: "Other famous actors should also appear and we should fill the work with many good and famous actors to make the work successful."
“Queen of Tears” is airing on tvN, revolving around the thrilling and humorous love story of a young couple trying to overcome a marital crisis.
Kim Soo Hyun plays Baek Hyun Woo - Legal Director of Queens Group, while Kim Ji Won plays the wife - Hong Hae In, the 3rd generation heiress of Queens.
The movie reached a rating of 14,1% in the 6th episode, the highest since it aired.
