‘Overcome nasopharyngeal cancer’ Kim Woo-bin, “I hope my presence will be of strength to patients”

“I look better in bright clothes. I thought everyone would wear black on the day of the press conference, so I prepared black as well, but after talking with my stylist in the morning, I ended up wearing khaki. Haha.”

Kim Woo-bin, who appeared for the interview wearing a bright beige tone suit, greeted with a bright face. Kim Woo-bin, who overcame nasopharyngeal cancer and came back healthy, is meeting viewers around the world with the Netflix series 'Delivery Driver', which was released on the 12th. Unlike other actors who gave off a sense of weight in all-black outfits at the production presentation, Kim Woo-bin created a brighter atmosphere with a khaki jacket and white pants. It was even more welcome to see the bright appearance of Kim Woo-bin, who has overcome cancer and is continuing his activities, with his healthy appearance, bright mood, and witty remarks.

'The Delivery Driver', in which Kim Woo-bin plays the main character, is set in a future Korean peninsula where people cannot live without oxygen respirators due to extreme air pollution, and the legendary courier 5-8 (played by Kim Woo-bin) and refugee Sa-wol (played by Kang Yu-seok) take control of the new world. It is a Netflix series that depicts what happens when a group is confronted. In the 'Netflix TOP 10' according to Netflix's official statistics (May 8-14), 'The Delivery Driver' recorded 31.22 million viewing hours in the first week, ranking first in the global TOP 10 non-English TV category. Upon hearing the news of first place, Kim Woo-bin was happy, saying, "I originally wasn't going to have high expectations because it would be less disappointing if you don't have expectations, but I was surprised that a lot of people were watching. I also like the actors who appeared with me. I'm spending every moment with gratitude."

5-8, played by Kim Woo-bin, is a former refugee and is called the 'legendary delivery driver' who delivers fresh oxygen, food, and daily necessities through the polluted atmosphere and attacks by hunters. 5-8, whose fighting skills are so strong that refugee hunters prey on his days off, works as a knight helping refugees with several couriers at night.

Kim Woo-bin worked on this work with director Cho Ui-seok, who worked with him on the movie 'Master'. Regarding the reasons for his appearance, he said, "There were many reasons, but it was good to be able to meet director Cho Ui-seok again." He continued, “The director said, ‘Please trust me.’ We had good memories of our previous work, so the process of working together was enjoyable, and since we had already gotten along once, we got along without having to have many separate conversations.” He also said, "At that time, everyone was wearing masks, so I thought something like this might happen, so the story was interesting and curious. I felt like each character was alive."

Kim Woo-bin experienced the science fiction genre through the movie 'Alien + Humans', but he said there were still some difficulties. He confessed, "Isn't there a difference between what you feel when you see it with your own eyes and what you do when you imagine it? I was confident because I flew in the sky and shot beams while doing 'Alien + Human' for 13 months, but the difficult things were difficult."

Although Kim Woo-bin has a lot of experience in action acting, he confessed, “All action scenes are difficult.” He continued, "It was difficult because it was a scene that many people had to work together to create. However, since the martial arts team had worked together once as 'Master', I received a lot of help from my hyungs. In action, you need to receive good reactions to survive, and the hyungs did a good job of bringing it to life." He said. He continued, "I wanted the action of the past 5-8 to be different from the current action. Currently, I am used to it through a lot of experience and it is restrained, but in the past it seems rough, rough and raw due to lack of experience, but I hope it contains the anger towards the situation and the world well. “I think,” he explained.

Kim Woo-bin was filmed wearing a mask due to the setting of a polluted environment in the play. He said, "The mask has no function at all. It's a prop for filming. It's harder to breathe, and on humid days, moisture accumulates inside, so when I take the mask off, water drips down." He continued, “It was difficult, but it helped me understand the situation and immerse myself in it. I had fun thinking about it.” He laughed, saying, "What was difficult was that it didn't move when I did the action. So I put adhesive on my face and put the mask on to keep it in place. It was a bit painful to take it off."

5-8 of the play are set as lovers of smoke. As Kim Woo-bin was suffering from nasopharyngeal cancer, the smoking scene was said to have been done in CG to take his health into consideration. Kim Woo-bin said, "It was more awkward than just filming. When I received the script, I saw that 5-8 was a character who smoked a lot. The director said it was bad for his health and said he would remove it, but in my opinion, smoking is a natural fit for 5-8's character. “I thought it would suit me. I said I would try acting if it could be realized in CG,” he said.

He continued, "The CG team said it's easier to create something that isn't there than to erase something that exists," and "I acted with a model cigarette. I had fun acting while calculating where the smoke would come from, where the ash would fall, and the timing. I saw the result and it looked real. “It was more,” he said. He laughed and said, “After the work was released, I told my father in advance that it was CG because I was worried that he would be shocked and worried when he saw the smoking scene. Perhaps because they were so good at implementing it, even though he knew it was CG, he was worried that it might be bad for his health.”

Although he overcame nasopharyngeal cancer, the public is still concerned about his health. Kim Woo-bin said, "I sleep well and try not to eat things that are bad for my body rather than things that are good for my body. I also exercise regularly. In the past, I exercised for show, but now I exercise for my health. I stretch a lot and do a lot of cardio." He revealed how to manage his health.

Kim Woo-bin also expressed his gratitude to the many people who supported him during his illness. He said, "I think I benefited from receiving a lot of support during my break. Among them, the words from people around me, such as 'I also had cancer, but I'm very healthy now' and 'My wife also had stage 3 breast cancer, but she's healthy now, don't worry,' were the most encouraging. “I searched on the Internet and found a lot of bad stories, so I used to get hurt, but hearing those stories gave me strength,” he said.

He also said, "I think that just because I am healthy, I will be of some help to patients who are suffering from nasopharyngeal cancer, which is not well-known. I think it will be just that if I maintain good health and continue to do my job. Other than my family, "I felt that there are people who can be a source of strength just by existing. I hope that many people will work harder to take care of their health and gain strength," he said.

Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr