'Concrete Utopia' production briefing session
Uhm Tae-hwa's comeback film to be released in August
Uhm Tae-hwa's comeback film to be released in August
Lee Byung-hun, the actor of 'Concrete Utopia', revealed why he chose disaster films in succession.
On the 21st, a press conference for the production of the movie 'Concrete Utopia' was held at the Konkuk University entrance of Lotte Cinema in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. Director Ryoo Seung-wan and actors Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young, Park Ji-hoo, and Kim Do-yoon attended the event.
'Concrete Utopia' (director Uhm Tae-hwa) is a disaster drama that begins with survivors gathering in the only remaining imperial palace apartment in Seoul, which was devastated by a major earthquake. A new adaptation of the webtoon 'Pleasant Bullying' part 2 'Pleasant Neighbors' by Soongnyung Kim. Director Uhm Tae-hwa of the movie 'Vanishing Time' was in charge of directing.
Actor Lee Byung-hun, who shows off his strong acting skills every time, played the role of 'Young Tak', the new resident representative of the imperial apartment, who is willing to take any risks for the safety of the residents. Actor Park Seo-joon, who shows charm regardless of genre, is the husband of Myeong-hwa (Park Bo-young), and plays the role of 'Min-seong', a character with only a sense of duty to protect his family. Actor Park Bo-young, who is synonymous with loveliness, took on the role of 'Myeong-hwa', a strong character who does not waver even in disaster situations, and tried to transform.
Lee Byung-hun, who chose a disaster film following his previous work 'Emergency Declaration', said, "I think that if you have to pick a genre, you can call it a disaster movie. In a typical disaster movie, disaster becomes the main character. 'Concrete Utopia' deals with whether a disaster occurs and each other communicates with each other and overcomes the situation, so the difference seems to be that it is close to a human or a black comedy.”
Lee Byung-hun explained to Kim Seon-yeong the episode where he was slapped while filming. He said, “I thought it was the strongest slapping I’ve ever received in 30 years. For about a second, I thought, "This is what fainting is." It seems that there was no change in expression because he was out of his mind. The director came and asked why my expression was like that. It was a scene where you didn’t have to hit or get hit,” he explained the vivid episode.
Regarding the reason why you should see 'Concrete Utopia' in the theater, Byung-Hun Lee said, "Due to the nature of the genre, the scale itself is large. Watching it in a theater and watching it on TV are different. Personally, I loved the space of the theater as much as the movie. It may be a different story, but the spread of Korean content through OTT is a good thing. However, it is also regrettable that the number of people who love theaters is decreasing,” he said, revealing his view on the domestic film market.
'Concrete Utopia' will be released in August.
Reporter Lee Ha-neul, Ten Asia greenworld@tenasia.co.kr