[Dispatch=Reporter Jung Tae-yoon] Na Hong-jin is called one of the most persistent directors in Korea. Jo In-sung was an actor who did not back down in the face of that persistence.

Riding horses and shooting guns, clinging to a moving car, facing an unidentified being with his bare body. Jo In-sung pushed himself just as much as the director in completing those scenes.

"It was my choice, so I went with the mindset of 'I'll take responsibility.' I was prepared to shoot 100 times. If I ended up shooting only 30 times, I could say 'Oh, we finished early today.'"

Dispatch recently met Jo In-sung. He spoke about the effort he poured into the film 'Hope' (director Na Hong-jin).

◆ "Are you confident you can handle it?"

Jo In-sung played the role of Seong-gi in 'Hope'. Seong-gi is a character who takes neighborhood youths along hunting and fishing as pastimes. It was his first time working with director Na Hong-jin.

He said, "The persistent style can be inferred from all of the director's previous works. Enormous energy comes through, doesn't it? That's the power of Na Hong-jin films. Whether to do it or not was a matter of my choice."

"Once I chose to do it, it became my personal matter. I can't blame anyone else, and since I decided to do it, I approached it with the mindset of taking responsibility."

He went in prepared to suffer. He said, "Every moment was fun. I thought I would shoot 100 times and went to set with that in mind. I thought it was a difference in mindset. If the director had changed form and compromised, that would have been an unsettling factor."

There was a scene that came about because of director Na Hong-jin's persistence. He said, "The director isn't usually someone who does many takes. But when fighting with Mabeyou (Michael Fassbender), he kept saying 'one more time.'"

"He kept asking me to show something different, so there was a scene where I would grab and pull at the grass below while getting up. Thanks to the director's intention to draw out the desperation for survival to the end, a more desperate scene came out."

◆ Village youth Seong-gi

Unlike Beom-seok (Hwang Jung-min), who runs alone, Seong-gi travels in groups with village youths. Jo In-sung frequently met with the "Seong-gi group" before filming to build the relationships within the movie.

He said, "That way, the relationships build, doesn't it? I brought that directly to the character," and added, "Since relationships build on top of the setting, the bonds could come out without a script."

The Seong-gi group conducted most of the filming in Retezat National Park in Romania. Jo In-sung said, "We filmed the Seong-gi group first in Romania, and we did a lot of rehearsals."

The most important thing was tension. He recalled, "It might not seem like much when you watch it, but we shot the scene of walking in the mountains for a very long time. The director kept shouting 'tension' with each step."

"We kept that rhythm and walked through the forest. I think I ate a lot of gnats. (Laughs) And since there were many difficult scenes riding horses and running, the staff took good care of my physical condition."

◆ "Could there be anything more than this?"

Jo In-sung personally handled high-difficulty chase scenes on horseback, moving between deep forests and wide highways. He said, "Horses aren't machines—they don't just come when called or go when told."

He added, "Drones were attached overhead and bikes followed while filming. Horses are very sensitive and suddenly turn. It's really dangerous, so we did it raw by crashing."

The horse's condition was noticeably different between the wide highway and the densely forested areas. Asphalt posed danger to the horse's knees. The forest, on the other hand, had many obstacles so the horse couldn't build up speed no matter how hard it ran.

He even handled a scene hanging from a car while on a horse. With one leg on the car and the rest hanging from the horse, he had to execute a precarious chase.

He said, "I asked the stunt team if they could do it, and they said they'd never done it this way. The equestrian team also said they couldn't.... I had no choice but to do it myself." He laughed and said, "I thought it wouldn't be easy and went to set. No matter how hard it was, wouldn't a day like today come?"

"Every time I rode the horse, staff would encourage me saying 'I'm sorry we can't help.' When I yelled cut and came back, everyone would applaud saying 'you came back alive.' Could there be any more action than this?"

◆ Hope for Korean cinema

'Hope' is a major tentpole project that Korean cinema is showcasing in a long time. Hollywood actors Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, and Cameron Britton also appear.

On the weight that 'Hope' carries, Jo In-sung said, "The trumpet vine blooms when monsoon and typhoon season come. Yet the flower still blooms fully, they say. I think our film's situation is similar."

"Korean cinema is currently in a state of flux. If that's the monsoon and typhoon, still, I hope 'Hope' will bloom in the hearts of audiences."

Is there anticipation for a sequel? He said, "It's still premature to talk about sequels, but if one comes, there's no reason not to do it. If there are good results, the second story in the director's head could come out, couldn't it?"

Following the film 'HUMINT' (director Ryu Seung-wan) in February, Jo In-sung has 'Hope,' and in the second half of the year, the release of director Lee Chang-dong's new film 'Possible Love' awaits.

He said, "Three films are coming out this year, so I want to run away. Even if I try not to attach meaning, a sense of responsibility comes. Since I prepared 'Hope' without regret in the best condition, I want to meet audiences around the world passionately."

<Photos provided by Plus M Entertainment>