“Here are the instructions on how to use beauty water. You can say goodbye to the face before you. Pour beauty water and water in the ratio of four to one, and dip your face in the liquid for 20 minutes. You think this is too long? Compared to the time you’ve endured suffocating for your looks, it’s nothing. Now, don’t be alarmed by what you’re about to see. It’s about being reborn into a beautiful self.”

It’s a fantasy come true: Instead of undergoing painful surgery, apply a substance and mold your face and even your body to fit society's beauty standards.

When producer Jeon Byung-jin was researching various stories, novels, comics and webtoons to turn into an animated film in 2013, he stumbled upon episodes of “Beauty Water” from the Naver webtoon “Tales of the Unusual” by cartoonist Oh Seong-dae and thought it was the perfect fit.

The story revolves around protagonist Ye-ji who comes across an advertisement for beauty water and becomes trapped in her desire to become beautiful.

Months before the local horror film “Beauty Water” hit local theaters on Sept. 9, the film already made headlines when it was invited to compete in this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival in May. The film has been invited to 12 other international film fests and sold its distribution rights to five countries —Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

In a press interview on Tuesday, producer Jeon Byung-jin, who was in charge of the project for six years, and director Cho Kyung-hun, in charge of animation, still seemed dazed by the global appeal the film has garnered.

“We were targeting the global film market from the start, but didn’t expect this,” Jeon said during the interview at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, central Seoul. “Especially considering how much trouble we had in the beginning.”

The following are edited excerpts from the interview.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]