[Sportschosun Reporter Jo Ji-young] Actor Zo In-sung, 45, said, "Na Hong-jin's ruthlessness is his default setting."
In an interview with Sportschosun on the morning of the 9th, Zo In-sung shared behind-the-scenes stories about the sci-fi thriller film "Hope" (directed by Na Hong-jin, produced by Forged Films).
"Hope" tells the story of the head of the Hope Harbor branch office, located in the DMZ, who hears from local young men that a tiger has appeared. As the entire village goes on alert, the story unfolds as he encounters an unbelievable reality. Zo In-sung played Seong-gi, a young man from the Hope Harbor village who spends his days hunting and fishing.
Zo In-sung spoke about his first collaboration with Na Hong-jin, known as a "master of extreme filmmaking." He said, "When Na Hong-jin gave me the script, he clearly told me I didn't have to run, but I didn't believe him. If you've seen his films, you can probably guess what that means. In all of his works, including 'The Chaser,' 'The Yellow Sea,' and 'The Wailing,' the actors never held back physically. The script says the character runs, but you can imagine how I would have to run in that role. Sure enough, I thought, 'This isn't just ordinary running.' My physical condition was also delicate because I had undergone knee surgery, so I had to be careful. My doctor said light jogging was fine, but jumping or sprinting was absolutely not allowed. He said it would make the rest of my life difficult. But 'Hope' obviously needed running scenes. Without them, it wouldn't be a Na Hong-jin film. So I told him in advance about my physical condition. I said it because I didn't want the quality of 'Hope' to suffer because of me. Even so, Na Hong-jin kept saying, 'There won't be any running,' and 'You'll do it, right?' and somehow we ended up here. Once I got to the set, I couldn't not do it after seeing the scene. I gave it everything I had. In return, Na Hong-jin treated me to a lot of good food. Now we've decided to stay on good terms," he said with a laugh.
Na Hong-jin is famous in the film industry as an eccentric. He is known as a director who never compromises on set. Zo In-sung commented on that reputation, saying, "You could say ruthlessness is his default setting. You shouldn't even think about it as something special. It's just his default. If I start nitpicking Na Hong-jin's ruthless side, I'm the one who loses. And if an actor gets an OK cut in one take, isn't that a loss too? Sometimes you want to show different sides of yourself, don't you? If I were working with Na Hong-jin just to get an OK cut in one take, I'd be better off finding another director. I actually chose to think positively and say that getting an OK cut in 30 takes instead of 100 was a win."
He continued, "Of course, waiting a long time to capture the best possible scene was hard. There was a scene where we were running on a road in Hapcheon County, and it snowed at the time. Everyone, including the actors and staff, had to stay on standby until the snow melted. In my case, I often spent more than an hour getting covered in blood makeup, only to leave without filming. Even so, we kept waiting. There were many times when we waited endlessly just to shoot once the snow had melted. For that scene, we originally planned to film in Hapcheon County for one month, but we ended up staying for another 20 days. It was March, and we would wait while shivering in the cold shade, then film whenever the weather briefly improved. We called that kind of shoot 'roll call.' I remember everyone being fully prepared and waiting."
Zo In-sung, who confessed his affection and trust in Na Hong-jin despite the extreme hardship, added, "In a way, that could be one of Na Hong-jin's good stories. Isn't the audience satisfied because he made the film so relentlessly? If we had compromised with the weather, would the result have been satisfying? In Korea, the sci-fi genre is often called a barren field. But Na Hong-jin pushed through that with his relentless drive, and his energy came through in the final result."
About the horse-and-car chase scene in the latter part of the film, which drew gasps from viewers, he said, "Now that some time has passed, I can talk about it with a laugh, but at the time I kept thinking, 'Can I really do this?' It was the kind of scene that even viewers would feel was extremely dangerous, right? Of course, we filmed it safely, but the situation on set was incredibly urgent and sensitive. One mistake could have caused an accident, so everyone was on edge. On top of that, horses can never run on asphalt. So everyone had no choice but to be tense. There was chaos in the monitor vehicle. Everyone knew instinctively that we didn't have many chances, so it was really hard to film. I can't even put that hardship into words. From now on, please call me 'Zo Caprio.' I'm the one who made it back alive," he said, shaking his head.
He went on, "They told me to ride the horse on one foot, but Na Hong-jin kept telling me, 'It can't bend!' I asked the stunt team how to ride a horse on one foot. They said, 'We've never done anything like that either.' Then I thought, 'Why should I do something even the stunt team has never done?' There was also a team that did equestrian dressage, so I asked them too. They said they don't ride horses on one foot in dressage either. But I had to do it." His remark drew laughter in the room.
"Hope" stars Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon, Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Alicia Vikander, and Michael Fassbender. It is directed by Na Hong-jin, who helmed "The Chaser," "The Yellow Sea," and "The Wailing." The film opens on the 15th.
Reporter Jo Ji-young, soulhn1220@sportschosun.com
