Ma Dong-seok "Why are you acting like this?"

The signature of the movie 'Criminal City' series is Ma Dong-seok's bare fists. Behind the cool action was Ma Dong-seok's pain. He considered himself unlucky because he had no pain in his shoulder, chest, spine, or ankle. It still hurts, but what is the reason for showing sincerity in action so far? Because it's 'what I like'.

During the corona pandemic last year, 'Criminal City 2' was the first Korean film to attract 10 million viewers, and recorded a cumulative audience of 12.69 million. Ma Dong-seok said, “We couldn’t predict the success of ‘Crime City 2’ because it was during the pandemic. Thankfully, it went well. We didn’t expect that level of score, and we were surprised. is," he said.

The results of 'Crime City 2' in the difficult Korean film industry were dazzling. The situation is no different this year. The only Korean films that have surpassed 1 million viewers are 'Negotiation' and 'Dream'. In this situation, 'Sin City 3' once again emerged as a relief pitcher in the Korean film industry. Ma Dong-seok confessed, "These days again, there are not many audiences in the theater. The movie I am producing is not only 'Criminal City'. There are some that will be released and others. As an audience member, I feel sorry for this situation." put

Ma Dong-seok said, "I'd be grateful if we could become a little bit of strength and have more audiences come to the theater. I'm not sure if it will be a box office hit. I'm not sure about the score either. The break-even point is always the goal while making a movie. The break-even point." The expectation was that I wish it would be a little more. Thank you for saying that you have high expectations this time, but first of all, our goal is the break-even point. Nobody knows what will happen after that. It is difficult to break through 1 million these days, but it is difficult to exceed 1 million viewers. I wish I could."

'Crime City 3' (Director Lee Sang-yong) was pre-sold in 158 countries abroad. The break-even point of 'Sin City 3' is 1.8 million people. 'Criminal City 3' is an exhilarating story of Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-seok), who moved to Gwangsu University in Seoul, to catch Joo Seong-cheol (Lee Jun-hyeok), who is behind a new drug crime case, and another villain, Ricky (Aoki Munetaka), who is involved in a drug case. Draw a crime-fighting operation. Ma Dong-seok plays the role of detective Ma Seok-do. Detective Maseok-do is a person who moved to the Seoul Metropolitan Investigation Unit seven years after the arrest of the kidnapper and murderer in Vietnam. He learns that the murder case he and his new team members are investigating is linked to a new drug case linked to a Japanese organization.

Ma Dong-seok has been active in all directions, including planning, producing, adapting, and appearing in the 'Criminal City' series. The 'Criminal City' series is already the third. The fourth series has also been filmed, and editing is underway. He said, “The scenarios of the series are always written together and adapted together. You have to change this and that. The most important thing for me is that copying the existing one is the most dangerous. I must not copy my role, and the work I have to not copy it. I have the compulsion to change, but I always keep both sides in mind because I can make mistakes."

Ma Dong-seok said he only edited the scenario of 'Criminal City 3' 80 times. He said, "I had 5 or 6 meetings with God by God for 12 hours a day for a week. Going through that process, I also lost my hair. Ever since I was little, I don't think I've had much luck. I've had a lot of bad luck. It's because of my injury. I worked out to be a boxer in middle and high school. At that time, I worked as a delivery person as a part-time job, but I was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. I broke my left shoulder and had a hard time with the first injury. Even after immigrating to the United States, I was injured while cleaning buildings and washing dishes at restaurants. " said

Ma Dong-seok said, "I came to Korea and filmed, but I fell from a building and broke two vertebrae, breastbone, opposite shoulder, and ankle. The doctor said, 'I survived because I was born with strong bones.' It could have been paralysis from the chest down. At that time, I had to take a break and rehabilitate for a long time. I had to take treatment for a few years to get my body back, but I had to film it. So I wasn't good at rehabilitation treatment and physical therapy. Even now, 300 days out of 365 days are painful. Strong I need time to heal because I have to act in action, but the filming overlapped for several years. I have a schedule, so I'm trying to maintain it by exercising and getting treatment in between."

But why does Ma Dong-seok continue to act? Ma Dong-seok said, "If you ask martial arts players, 'Why do you do it while getting beaten up like that?', most of them don't answer anything. I am the same. I like it, so I try to do it until the end (even if it hurts). I live with a focus on (action). He emphasized, "I'm a person. So it's natural for me. From the outside, I can be foolish, but to me, it's my job and life, so I've never thought of it in particular."

Reporter Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia kkk39@tenasia.co.kr