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‘Anna’: Coupang Play and K-drama director to sue each other despite new version

Coupang denies apologising for editing 'Anna' without director's approval, both parties to take legal action against each other

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Despite releasing a new version approved by the director of ‘Anna’, the situation has not improved yet. In fact, it has escalated with both the director and its OTT platform Coupang Play suing each other. K-drama fans were excited when idol actress Bae Suzy finally returned to screens with the psychological thriller ‘Anna’. However, after the finale, the director, Lee Joo-young threatened legal action against Coupang for editing the K-drama without her approval, cutting down two episodes, and changing the story.

Coupang admitted to making the changes as it was well within their rights according to the contract. However, they shared that out of respect for the director, they would be releasing a director’s cut of ‘Anna’ with the original eight episodes and edits. While fans felt that the dispute was over, a new update on August 22 left everyone dumbfounded. On August 21, reports said that the director’s law firm had shared that Coupang had apologized to her and would be removing her name from the credits from the old version as per her request after meeting with Director’s Guild of Korea. 

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Coupang denies apology

According to a new report on August 22, Coupang said that they had never apologized and will sue ‘Anna’s director for spreading false information. They will also be taking legal action against Joo-young’s law firm. They claim that the director admitted at the meeting that she was aware that there would be two different edited versions, which was why Coupang could not have apologized for it.

It seems that the ‘Anna’ director will also be retaliating by suing Coupang. Her law firm denied Coupang’s claim and said, “We express our deep regret that Coupang Play is committing illegal acts, including defamation of false information. We will take action and will also file a claim for damages for the infringement of moral rights, which we were trying to refrain from on the premise of Coupang Play’s apology.”

‘Anna’ director to sue

The director said that they were confused as to why Coupang was denying the apology. She said, "Coupang Play abruptly changed its attitude when the apology was revealed and requested a joint statement that contained content that was different from the facts." The director’s guild held a second meeting but the OTT platform did not attend leaving the matter unresolved. With the director working on ‘Anna’ for almost four years, fans are siding with her. They also felt that the director’s cut did a better job rather than Coupang’s six-episode version which ended abruptly.

The director’s cut of ‘Anna’ with all eight episodes has been released on Coupang Play, as well as Amazon Prime in select countries.

‘Sue them all’

There were comments on Knetz such as, "Coupang completely messed up the drama, left it in tatters. I saw the director's version with the eight episodes and it definitely explored the main characters more in depth with their background stories. If I were the director, I'd sue just as well.” Another user wrote, “Not sure what Coupang's thinking, especially when the director is able to refute all of their claims so quickly. Their handling of this is so amateur.” One K-drama viewer added, “The director's version was good enough to be nominated for awards... just amazing all around.. it's unfortunate what happened to it.”

Another viewer tweeted, “Coupang doesn't deserve a masterpiece like Anna. Sue them all.” One added, “Coupang play reaching 4.81M monthly users in July which means after first week of Anna 1.1M+ ppl joined..Anna has remained #1 almost throughout the whole time. This is so bittersweet cause i am so happy Suzy's drama did so well but then coupang didn't deserve it at all.” Another posted, “Director Lee Joo Young, I wish you have twitter to read all of these reviews. I deeply appreciate your hardwork. You really deserve the best director awards for Anna. Thank you so much for writting the script and direct it perfectly. I am so sorry for what has happened.”

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