[Dispatchㅣ Cannes (France)=Reporter Jeong Tae-yoon] "I had to carry the first 40 minutes on my own. It was truly painful."
The film 'Hope' (directed by Na Hong-jin) is essentially led by Hwang Jung-min alone for the first 40 minutes. Without Jo In-sung or aliens, drawing the audience's curiosity fell entirely on Hwang Jung-min's shoulders.
"It felt like taking the first handoff in a 400-meter relay. If I just get the first start right, then Seonghae and Seonggi appear. The pressure was immense."
Dispatch met Hwang Jung-min in Cannes, France. He shared his impressions of presenting the film to audiences worldwide for the first time at its world premiere, and spoke of his efforts.
This is the second time Hwang Jung-min and Director Na Hong-jin have worked together. Joining hands again after the film 'The Wailing' was a natural flow. He described Na Hong-jin as "more persistent than me."
"When you meet someone more persistent than yourself, you get drawn in. Meeting someone persistent in the same industry is truly a good thing. Because I know that's how good results come about."
In fact, their meeting could have become a different project. Director Na Hong-jin first proposed a thriller. However, it unfortunately wasn't made into a film, and years later he received the script.
"Before even reading the script, I knew it would be interesting. But when I read it, I was so surprised. 'Na Hong-jin is doing sci-fi?' It was truly fresh."
He conveyed, "I realized it wasn't simply a film about catching aliens. I need a justification too, and I thought if I could find that narrative well, it would work."
The character 'Beom-seok' played by Hwang Jung-min is the chief of a remote patrol outpost. With no support staff and cut-off communications in an isolated village, he runs around frantically to save it.
For the first 40 minutes, he had to fill the frame entirely alone. He revealed, "It was very important to find an acting tone that draws the audience's curiosity without being excessive or insufficient."
It remained challenging even after the aliens appeared. He had to act with only imagination, with no counterpart. He recalled, "Since I had to act in a blank space, I had to run not knowing what kind of expression to make."
What he considered most important was the moment when Beom-seok and Bamigil (played by Cameron Britton) make eye contact while chasing each other.
"In that moment, I feel fear, but Bamigil can also feel fear, right? For example, what kind of fear would one feel entering a land with one eye from a land with two eyes? I imagined such things."
Hwang Jung-min added variations within the mysterious atmosphere of the film's opening while simultaneously easing the alienation when the aliens appear. He paved the way first with the character's energy so that audiences could accept the unfamiliar presence.
At the end of that path was Na Hong-jin. He said, "The director is someone who knows the exact millimeter intensity of camera lenses. Even the cinematographer asks him. And he is truly persistent."
"During 'The Wailing,' we shot one scene that seemed trivial for a week. To capture the color of the sky before sunrise at dawn. At first I was annoyed, but after seeing the footage, I thought I could shoot for a month or two. He's an amazing person to me."
'Hope' is scheduled for domestic release this summer.
<Photos provided by PLUS M Entertainment>
