‘Negotiation’ Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin’s ‘irresponsibility’
‘Negotiation’ Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin’s ‘irresponsibility’
≪Choi Ji-ye’s Cinema Talk≫
TenAsia reporter Choi Ji-ye tells the story of the movie. We analyze every aspect of movies through live on-site reporting and write fun articles with sharp perspectives.


The negotiation plan in the movie 'Negotiation' featuring actors Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin was close to failure. The joint negotiation between two of Korea's best actors failed to convince the audience.

‘Negotiation’ (directed by Lim Soon-rye), which was released on the 18th of last month, recorded a cumulative audience of 1,668,486 as of the 10th. The break-even point is 3.5 million people, which is less than 50%. The number of visitors on the 10th was 8,703, and the reservation rate fell to 13th place. At this rate, it seems difficult to reach 50% even if you complete the course to the end.

It is a theater district where foreign films are strong, with 'The First Slam Dunk', 'Avatar: Path of Water', and 'Titanic' celebrating its 25th anniversary, but it is rebounding as the first Marvel film 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum Mania' is scheduled to be released in 2023 on the 15th. It's not easy either.
‘Negotiation’ Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin’s ‘irresponsibility’
‘Negotiation’ Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin’s ‘irresponsibility’
‘Negotiations’ were wrongly buttoned from the start. The movie deals with the kidnapping incident in Afghanistan of the Bundang Saemmul Church missionary team that occurred in July 2007. It is still a topic that is controversial and difficult for many people to empathize with. Although it is not a movie that necessarily relies on a true story, it is questionable why it was necessary to include a true story, especially the story of Saemmul Church.

Aside from religious issues, the missionary team of Saemmul Church at the time headed to Afghanistan, which was designated as a travel ban by the government, so the film's goal of saving them lost its power in front of the audience. In a setting where a significant portion of the audience could not sympathize with the innocence of the hostages, the film's message that 'the state protects its people' also faded into obscurity.

CJ CGV's actual viewing rating 'Golden Egg' index, which allows you to know the audience's actual rating, is also not good at 81%. The Naver movie rating is quite low at 6.26 points (1,076 people participated).
‘Negotiation’ Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin’s ‘irresponsibility’
‘Negotiation’ Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin’s ‘irresponsibility’
In addition, the two main actors, Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin, refused to participate in promotional interviews that are usually conducted ahead of the release. It was unusual for not all the main actors to be interviewed, and only director Im Soon-rye, who held the megaphone, was interviewed and struggled alone. The film company asked for understanding that it would be difficult to interview Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin due to their schedules for filming their next film.

Some believe that Hwang Jung-min is intentionally avoiding interviews. In fact, Hwang Jung-min has not had a face-to-face interview with the media since ‘Duke’ in 2018. Of course, Hwang Jung-min is currently filming 'Veteran 2', but since movies are not filmed with a tight deadline, it is pointed out that he can adjust his schedule enough to participate in the interview if he wants to.

Whatever the reason, Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin, who led the 'negotiations', left something to be desired with their irresponsible attitude of only filming movies and not knowing about publicity. Actress Park So-dam, who was recently interviewed through 'Ghost', did not hesitate to talk about the movie, saying, "I am happy to be able to promote 'Ghost' like this," even though she must have been suffering from a sore throat due to her battle with thyroid cancer.

In addition, considering that many actors end their film journeys with interviews with a sense of responsibility, the industry's view is that Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin's 'interview skipping' is not a good example for some reason.

In 'Negotiations', NIS agent Hyun Bin (played by Park Dae-sik) asks Hwang Jeong-min (played by Jeong Jae-ho), a Ministry of Foreign Affairs employee dispatched from Korea, "What is the negotiation plan you brought?" Unfortunately, the negotiation plan brought by Hwang Jung-min was irresponsible.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr