Kim Kyu-tae

Kim Kyu-tae is a South Korean television director and producer. He directed the Korean dramas A Love to Kill (2005), Iris (2009), Padam Padam (2011), That Winter, the Wind Blows (2013), It's Okay, That's Love (2014) and Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016). Career Kim Kyu-tae joined the KBS network in 1996, where he first worked as an assistant director then as a second unit director, notably for Yellow Handkerchief (2003). For the single-episode anthology Drama City, Kim drew critical acclaim in 2004 for two low-budget but visually stylish and experimental episodes: Anagram (starring Kim Yoon-seok and Ku Hye-sun) and Blue Skies of Jeju Island (starring Uhm Tae-woong and Kim Yoon-seok). A Love to Kill (2005) was Kim's first miniseries as the main director. Written by Lee Kyung-hee, the melodrama starred Rain and Shin Min-a as a K-1 fighter and the actress he targets for revenge but unexpectedly falls for. A Love to Kill was not as well-received ratings-wise as Lee's previous dramas, but Kim won Best New Television Director at the 42nd Baeksang Arts Awards in 2006. In 2009, he and Yang Yun-ho co-directed Iris, the popular espionage action series starring Lee Byung-hun and Kim Tae-hee. Kim said, "We approached Iris like it was a spy film, so viewers will get to watch movie-like scenes along with the emotional details that have made Korean drama so popular over the years at the same time. [...] We feel great responsibility and excitement at bringing such a genre based on the world's last divided country. While men will be attracted to the action scenes, along with the friendship and revenge between fellow agents and enemies, women can connect with the emotional details between the lovely and handsome characters, torn between love and their duties." Cast member Kim So-yeon said the two different crews were called "Team K" and "Team Y," describing Kim's team as having "a warm charisma and is always filled with quiet laughter. When you shoot in that kind of atmosphere, you feel like you're soaking into that as well."