The behind-the-scenes look at the teamwork of 'One Team' in the movie 'Rebound' (director Jang Hang-jun) has been revealed.
On the 9th, distributor Barunson E&A Co., Ltd. announced that in 'Rebound', the new coach of the Busan Jungang High School basketball team and 6 players who rocked the 2012 National High School Basketball Championship will be transformed into actors who created passion and excitement reminiscent of a real game. The story behind the birth of their teamwork was revealed.
'Rebound' is a miraculous story of 8 days during the 2012 National High School Basketball Tournament, when a new coach and 6 players of the weakest basketball team that no one paid attention to ran tirelessly.
Director Jang Hang-jun placed the greatest emphasis on authenticity while directing 'Rebound', which depicts a true story that is more like a movie than a movie. In order to realistically translate the situation at the time to the screen, the top priority was to find actors with a high synchronization rate. The start is finding an actor to play Coach Kang Yang-hyeon.
Ahn Jae-hong, who was chosen by director Jang Hang-jun without hesitation due to his highly synchronized appearance, analyzed everything from the hairstyle, accessories, and gestures of the real person through all videos and interviews from the time, and worked to resemble him more closely. Ahn Jae-hong said, "Because I took on the role of coach at a young age, I do not sit during games. I am a person who always moves the space with the spirit of running with the players," and was reborn as Coach Kang by understanding even the smallest habits.
Basketball skills played the biggest role in forming a combination of actors who played the roles of players, including Lee Shin-young, Jeong Jin-woon, Kim Taek, Jeong Geon-ju, Kim Min, and Ahn Ji-ho. The production team continued to cast on a large scale, so much so that Kim Min, who plays Jaeyoon, recalled the audition scene saying, “There were almost all male actors of the same age as Korea.” An audition was held at a basketball gym to meet hundreds of applicants, and former national basketball team coach Cho Sang-hyun came out to evaluate their skills.
Lee Shin-young, who started playing basketball for the first time as an adult after a long casting, but showed special passion by practicing every single day; Jeong Jin-woon, who showed amazing skills in a basketball entertainment show; Kim Taek, a former player at the prestigious Whimoon High School in basketball, wore a basketball uniform for a meeting with the coach Jeong Geon-joo, who came wearing a suit, Kim Min, who said he looked the same as the real person at first sight, and Ahn Ji-ho, who was even more excited because his favorite acting and his favorite sport, basketball, were combined, a combination of actors with various skills was completed.
Once casting was completed, training camp began. The actors began preparing for filming together by training like a real basketball team to improve their individual skills and practice game scenes. They consulted basketball players, constantly analyzed video footage from the time, and absorbed everything from the way the characters polished their shoes to the facial expressions and gestures used during the game. They were reborn as their respective characters, undergoing intense training and lengthy location filming. Through this, we built teamwork just like a real sports team.
Jeong Jin-woon, who plays Gyu-hyuk, said, “The camp was so much fun that I hated it when I had to go to Seoul for work.” Lee Shin-young, who plays Ki-beom, said, "We played games together in a PC room on our days off during filming, and it felt like the members of Joongang High School were sitting there playing games, not the actors."
Meanwhile, 'Rebound' will be released in April.
Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr