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| Actress Adria Arjona, center, speaks during a news conference for Netflix's new original action film "6 Underground" at Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, Monday. Also joining the event are actors Ryan Reynolds, left, Melanie Laurent, right, and director Michael Bay and producer Ian Bryce (not seen in this photo). They visited Seoul for their promotional tour of the Netflix film. Yonhap |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Director Michael Bay and actor Ryan Reynolds, who worked on Netflix's new original action film "6 Underground," have landed in Korea, the first stop in their promotional tour for the film, Monday. Also participating in the tour are Reynolds' co-stars, Adria Arjona and Melanie Laurent, and the movie's producer, Ian Bryce.
"I'm very excited to be here. Koreans always have been warm and had warm reception to my movies," the director said at a press conference held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno-gu, Seoul, noting that this is his first visit to the country in over 30 years.
In addition to Arjona and Laurent, the action-packed blockbuster features actors Dave Franco, Ben Hardy, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Corey Hawkins ― whose characters come together to form a team called "Ghost." Reynolds plays the lead role as One, a genius billionaire who uses his fortune to gather the individuals to fight evil.
With each member having their own special skill and difficult past, they leave behind their lives by faking their deaths and seek to take down the villain and find redemption.
Reynolds describes his character as a billionaire who has lost his way and becomes disenfranchised with geopolitical issues and things going on around him. "He does something that I think we've all, in our lives, wished we could do. When you watch the news and are looking at the world, you'll see how there's a fire in places and dictators are in charge," he said, adding that his character decides to take care of such matters himself.
Although the actor has previous experience in action films, such as the "Deadpool" series and "The Hitman's Bodyguard," Reynolds said that this was the first film with such a huge scale and scope of action. "This is the movie that is so big and muscular," he said. "I felt like a student again watching not just the way Michael Bay works the camera around, but also how he moves the entire team around."
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| Director Michael Bay./ Yonhap |
He expressed that he does have regrets having to show such a large-scale action on a small screen. However, he further went on to note that the industry has been changing for the past three to four years. "We have to get used to the new world. People want to consume things in different ways," he said.
Puerto Rican actress Adria Arjona took on the role of Five in the team who is a doctor with a desperate need to help others. She pointed out that the car chasing scenes were the hardest part of the action scenes for her. "It was both chaotic and frenetic but it was such a cool and fun experience because I've never had a director operating a camera and directing at the same time," she said, referring to the action scenes in a speeding car.
She added the reason she felt drawn to the character is that it was a strong female character who still has a heart. "(The character was) not just tough but strong. It's hard to combine, I think. Other films that I've seen have female characters made tough, as supposed to strong. But I think this character had such element of strength," she said.
The film is set to be released on Netflix, Dec. 13.
