Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Ha Jung-woo, Kim Nam-gil team up for new mystery 'Closet'
From left, actor Kim Nam-gil, director Kim Kwang-bin and actor Ha Jung-woo pose for pictures during a press conference for a new film “The Closet” in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of CJ ENM
By Lee Gyu-lee
By Lee Gyu-lee
Actors Ha Jung-woo and Kim Nam-gil teamed up to take on a challenge with unprecedented roles in their career in horror, mystery and drama film "The Closet."
"This film was more of a challenge for me as a producer than as an actor. I think it is a type of movie that cannot be defined as one specific genre of mystery,” said actor Ha, who is also a co-producer of the film, during a press conference for the film in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Thursday.
The flick revolves around an architect Sang-won (played by Ha) who moves into a new house with his daughter after losing his wife in an accident. He struggles to cope with the loss and take care of his daughter. Then one day, his daughter vanishes in the house without a trace, leaving him clueless until a mysterious man (Kim) comes to his door and tells him she has been taken inside the closet.
“This has the character, story, genre that I've never taken the challenge to do, so I thought 'this would be an interesting work to build up the piece together,'” Ha said.
To play the father figure as a single man himself, he said he had to ask around his married friends, but also noted that it was fairly easy to approach. “My character used to live life as a single man, leaving the child to his wife. Then, the accident occurs and he's completely responsible for his daughter,” he explained.
“And in the process of taking parental responsibility, there's imperfection and clumsiness which would be similar to how I would be with a child on my own.”
Director Kim Kwang-bin, who is making his directorial debut with this film, revealed that a moment of getting chills from looking at a closet door left ajar gave him the idea for the movie. “Maybe because I wasn't fully awake, but it felt very creepy like someone was behind that closet door. Then later, I came up with the idea that it would be interesting to put together that intense moment and drama genre into a film,” he said.
A poster for “The Closet,” which is will premier this February. / Courtesy of CJ ENM
Although the film combines hair-raising mystery and drama as its genre, the director noted that he tried to balance out the western-driven genre and Korean storyline. “When I was making the film, I tried to be less genre-driven to put more focus on including stories of the society we live in,” he said.
Actor Kim Nam-gil, who recently topped the SBS Drama Awards with his appearance in “The Fiery Priest,” explained that the director's solid idea and perspective on the film and such unique genre brought him to work on this flick. “I wanted to test myself with a genre I've never worked on because I thought the script was original and interesting.”
He wittingly added that he couldn't resist a chance to co-star with Ha, expressing “any actors in Korea would desire to work with Ha Jung-woo.”
Actor Kim further went on to say that the chemistry between the duo helped him to get into the character more smoothly. “The mysterious character I played didn't exactly match my real personality,” he said. “But in the scenes with Jung-woo, we would have sprightly vibe exchanging lines. Jung-woo is such a funny and humorous person so I got a lot of help (playing a serious character) through those scenes.”
Ha revealed his special connection to the director, which dates back to 2005. The two worked together on a student film “The Unforgiven,” as the main lead and the audio record operator. “Even though the production was under poor conditions, Kwang-bin worked full 13 months until a day before he entered his military service,” Ha noted. “I would give him ride home with all his recording equipment. And one day, he told me 'When I direct a feature film in the future, I want you to be in it,'” Ha said, adding that he was very excited to get the script from director Kim after 15 years.
“When Kim approached me with the project, I could feel how much he loves and is specialized in this genre,” adding that the challenge for the new genre and character interested him to produce and star in the film.
“The Closet” is set to hit local theaters in February.