March 31st, 2025 
Jackson Murphy 
In the new animated feature The King of Kings, iconic author Charles Dickens (voiced by Kenneth Branagh) tells the story of Christ to his young son Walter in the most immersive ways. Angel Studios is releasing the film (with a cast that also includes Oscar Isaac, Uma Thurman and Academy Award winners Ben Kingsley and Forest Whitaker) in theaters on April 11th. Director Seong-ho Jang and cinematographer Woo-hyung Kim join me for this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This interview was conducted with a translator over Zoom and was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Congratulations on this. I really think it’s excellent. Why did you want to choose to give us the greatest story ever told through a very unique perspective through Charles Dickens?
Seong-ho Jang: Jesus’ story is very well known to obviously Christians and also to the non-Christians. So I was thinking of a way I can deliver… convey the message and talk about his story. What could be the best way to describe it? Charles Dickens is one of the most famous figures in literature. So it would be very interesting to deliver this message through his perspective.
Jackson Murphy: It’s very interesting the way you literally put Walter, Charles and Willa the cat into the story. What risk was involved in literally putting these characters into these scenes?
Seong-ho Jang: I first thought that using a frame plot would make the story isolated with each other. I wanted to create a main plot and subplot altogether so that those plots can collaborate with each other to efficiently deliver the message — and to put things together as the same subject. That is about the recovery of the relationship between father and son.
Jackson Murphy: Yeah. Oh, that theme comes through very, very well. Having these characters in these moments visually… and wanting to create a sophisticated tone and a tone that would work for children… How was this experience for you?
Woo-hyung Kim: I’ve been working as a cinematographer in the live-action industry for more than 20 years. So I know what I was doing in the live-action field, but it was my first time as a cinematographer, or layout director, in animation. So we had to build the system by ourselves for me to take part in the animation world. As he explained that it has two different plots, so I just decided to shoot that in a slightly different way. And that’s what I’m doing while I was doing the live-action features too.
Jackson Murphy: Amazing. You do such a good job. And there are visually stunning sequences with water and at nighttime — and the drama and lighting that go into it. What was the most challenging for you to make it effectively work?
Woo-hyung Kim: The [most] challenging thing was probably the whole brightness of the movie. Many people believe that animation is for kids, so the picture has to be brighter than normal dramas or feature films. But this time I just want you to keep the story watchable for the adults — for the whole family too. So I tried not to make it too bright, but at the same time we have to be very careful not to go too low, not to be too dark.
Jackson Murphy: Sure. That makes complete sense. You do a fantastic job. I wanna bounce off of that. I think this perspective, and wanting to experience this story through the eyes of a child, is going to have so much of an impact on audiences. How did it feel for you — wanting to get into the mind of a child who is learning about Christ?
Seong-ho Jang: I wanted to use the perspective of a young child because usually for the adults, if they receive some kind of message, it may be interpreted in a different way — with respect to their perspective, experiences and perception about something and their thoughts on subjects. I wanted the audience to feel and embrace the things delivered from the movie, from the perspective of a young child.
Jackson Murphy: Kenneth Branagh does so much with his voice performance as Charles Dickens. How was it working with him? He has a lot of lines. It’s dialogue and it’s narration.
Seong-ho Jang: When we first cast Kenneth Branagh, we were really happy and at the same time, he complimented the quality of the scenario, which played a large part for him to participate in the film. And he said that as a writer and director himself, it is really hard to have this kind of scenario with this kind of subject. When we first met Kenneth Branagh at the recording studio, there are two aspects that I felt really touched [by]. The first thing is, he said, “I’m also a director, and I really feel how it feels when the actors are not following my instructions. I know how hard that is. So this time I come as an actor. So just let me know whatever you want.” And the second thing is he came prepared for the tone of the dialogue in five different ways. So, before we started, he demonstrated all five of them and asked, “Which one do you prefer? I will just follow your instructions.”
Jackson Murphy: Wow. Great. Very nice, for sure. Seeing this movie is kind of like a play come to life? Did you really experience that while you were working on it?
Woo-hyung Kim: Usually when I get a script from a director, as a DP, I read it and try to find out what the director is talking about and what he really means between the lines. And in this case, he explained a lot to me and I read the script, but a lot of things were still not very clear. So I had to read The Bible the night before I was shooting something. And it was still very not clear, but it helped me a lot. It just calms me down a lot. Hmm. So I think in a way I reacted as one of the audiences.
Jackson Murphy: It makes sense to read The Bible. And how do you feel about Oscar Isaac voicing Christ? And is there a lot of emotion behind showing an animated version of Christ? I have to imagine that it is very emotional and powerful to bring an animated version of him to the screen.
Woo-hyung Kim: When I was actually motion capturing and doing the camera work, that body is not Oscar Isaac. That’s the body of someone else who is good at expressing himself through the body movement. Although they were great, great actors while I was shooting that… Jesus walks a lot and points at something and explains something, but he’s not as talkative as Charles Dickens in the movie. So while I was shooting that, I always thought that it’s great, but something is missing. But that something is hearing the voice of Oscar Isaac.
Jackson Murphy: My last question is about the overall impact of Angel Studios releasing this film. They are a powerhouse now when it comes to faith-based films doing very well around the world, but especially here in North America.
Seong-ho Jang: When we first were trying to distribute this film last year, we went through a lot of obstacles and there were a lot of difficulties surrounding our situation. And we met up with Angel Studios about the fall of last year. The discussion went really well and at a really fast pace. They told us that they will release this film for Easter this year, and they have made the room available for our film. So after experiencing all those difficulties last year, this is one of the miracles that we’ve experienced.
Woo-hyung Kim: We struggled to finish this film for a long, long time, but making a film is one thing and distributing is another. And I think we were quite lost before we met Angel.
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