Film inspired by female ice hockey team

Soo Ae speaks during a press conference for "Take Off 2" at Megabox Dongdaemun, July 6. / Yonhap

By Park Jin-hai

As the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics are approaching, a winter sport movie awaiting its release this August will shed light on a less popular sport and cool down the summer heat.

The ice hockey film "Take Off 2," starring actresses Soo Ae and Oh Yeon-seo and actor Oh Dal-su, tells the story of the nation's first female hockey team, a makeshift group hastily made up of people from various backgrounds for the 2003 Asian Winter Games.

Inspired by the real story of the Korean women's national ice hockey team and its challenge in the 2003 Aomori Asian Winter Games, "Take Off 2" tells the story of athletes, including a former North Korean ice hockey player who fled to Seoul, a dropout athlete from the short track team and a housewife as they grow to become national athletes.

Actress Soo takes on a challenge in her first sports movie with the role of the strong-spirited North Korean defector Lee Ji-won.

"When I first read the story, I had a strong feeling and this urge to join the project," she said during a press conference at Megabox Dongdaemun, July 6. "I really wanted to work with these other actresses. So far, I have been thinking that all I needed to focus on is nothing other than my role in other films, but with this movie, I felt that I wanted to be perceived as a team member. Looking beautiful on the screen has not been an issue at all."

For the role, Soo Ae and other actors endured three months of training prior to shooting and suffered injuries.

Director Kim Jong-hyeon, who wrote and directed the 2004 baseball film "Superstar Mr. Gam," said he wanted to depict the ice hockey game scenes as realistically as possible. "Since it is a sports film, I thought that the Asian game scene as the climax of the film should be impeccable. All staff members participated in thoroughly analyzing the sport to make the scenes as close as possible to what was real," said Kim.

"Although the scenes were not easy to shoot, after going through those challenging scenes together, we kind of began to share comrade-like feelings, said actress Oh. "The fact that it is a women's movie drew my attention and made me accept the offer."

Although "Take Off 2" is the a spinoff of "Take Off," director Kim says the two movies share little other than they are less popular winter sport games. "While making the film, I didn't give it any thought that it is a sequel. Rather, I tried to depict it as our own story. Since ice hockey is one of the most challenging sports for women, the audience can expect more powerful and speedy scenes at the theater," said Kim.

"Take Off 2" will hit local theaters on August 11.

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