The Korean drama "Teach you a lesson" after 1 day of release quickly occupied the top 1 of the Netflix Korean highest-grossing drama chart, and also entered the top 5 of Netflix's global TV show rankings on June 7.
Based on the webtoon (Korean webtoon) of the same name, "Teach you a lesson" tells about the activities of the Education Rights Protection Bureau (ERPB) - a government task force established to restore the authority of teachers in an era where students are increasingly difficult to manage, parents demand too much, and schools face many difficulties.
The main cast Kim Moo Yeol, Lee Sung Min, Jin Ki Joo, P.O quickly attracted attention. Especially actor Kim Moo Yeol is very popular when playing a handsome education inspector and has many shocking punitive actions.
But in reality, the project's actor selection process was not favorable due to controversies related to the original webtoon.
Previously, the series "Teach you a lesson", although very famous, was accused of having many violent scenes.
Therefore, as soon as the plan to adapt it into a live-action film was announced, a wave of concern appeared. International online communities continuously amplified these criticisms, and finally Naver Webtoon had to stop releasing the work on its North American platform.
Before Kim Moo Yeol received the main role of Na Hwa Jin, actor Kim Nam Gil received invitations to participate in the project twice but he refused both times.
In November 2024, the media reported that Kim Nam Gil had received an invitation to participate in "Teach you a lesson". At that time, his management company said that the actor was "considering the offer", which immediately met with fierce reactions from fans.
Many fans called on him to be aware of the issues related to the original webtoon and expressed deep disappointment.
After that, Kim Nam Gil directly spoke up on his personal social network. He said that while preparing to return to the role of Kim Hae Il in "The Fiery Priest 2", he heard that many fans were worried about news related to another project.
The actor explained that the management company did receive the invitation, but he himself did not even have time to seriously consider it due to the dense filming schedule of "The Fiery Priest 2".
Kim Nam Gil's move caused controversy, because very few actors will directly respond to the film projects being discussed to receive roles.
In the press conference afterwards, Kim Nam Gil frankly shared about the reason he publicly spoke out, the actor said: "I don't want another negative issue to affect the broadcast of "The Fiery Priest 2".
He also revealed that he had previously refused "Teach you a lesson" once and was fully aware of the controversies associated with the original.
However, Kim Nam Gil admitted that he reconsidered the offer after director Hong Jong Chan participated in the project, partly because he himself was very interested in education issues.
However, in the end, Kim Nam Gil still decided to refuse because the filming schedule of "The Fiery Priest 2" was too busy.
At the same time, the actor declared that if the audience feels uncomfortable, he thinks it is best not to participate in the project that makes fans uncomfortable.
