Humans disguised as animals in new comedy film 'Secret Zoo'

A scene from the human-turned-animal comedy film “Secret Zoo” which is set to hit local theaters on Jan. 15. Courtesy of Acemaker Movieworks

By Lee Gyu-lee

Director Sohn Jae-gon is making his comeback to the silver screen with the human-turned-animal comedy film “Secret Zoo” this January, nine years after his 2010 comedy “Villain and Widow.”

Director Sohn Jae-gon speaks during a press conference for the upcoming comedy “Secret Zoo” on Monday at Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. Courtesy of Acemaker Movieworks

Known for his unique sense of humor, the director debuted with the independent comedy film “The Man Who Saw too Much” in 2000. Two year later, he began his career as a commercial film director with the very first parody movie in Korea, “Fun Movie.”

Since then, he has released two more comedy films including the award-winning “My Scary Girl” (2006) and “Villain and Widow” (2010) starring veteran actors Kim Hye-soo and Han Suk-kyu.

“I grew up watching comedy films and TV shows, and would always read funny comic books,” the director said during a press conference for his upcoming comedy film “Secret Zoo” Monday at Gwangjin-gu in eastern Seoul. “So it's natural for me to choose comedy projects to work with.”

Based on a webcomic of the same name by HUN, Sohn's latest flick revolves around a unique concept ― a zoo with no real animals. The story starts when a temp lawyer at a prestigious law firm Tae-soo (Ahn Jae-hong) is assigned to revive a bankrupted zoo to get his permanent position. To save the zoo that was left with no animals, Tae-soo and zoo employees decide to pretend to be the animals themselves by wearing animal suits.

The film is set to hit local theaters on Jan. 15, only a few days apart from the premieres of two other animal-themed films “Dolittle” and “Mr. Zoo.”

The director responded to the abnormal number of films with animals noting that the technological advances allowed filmmakers to approach those films more easily.

“In the past, featuring animals in a film was hard because they are not easy to handle. But as visual effect techniques developed, animals can be depicted digitally, meaning more animal films will come out now,” the director noted.

But he expressed that the concept of his film makes it stands out from rest of animal films. “As far as I know, no movies in the world have zoo keepers standing in front of the visitors dressed up as an animal themselves,” he said. “The biggest strength of this film is the freshness and originality.”

A poster for the director's upcoming comedy film “Secret Zoo.” Courtesy of Acemaker Movieworks

The director showed confidence in the uniqueness of the story from the original webcomics. To cinematize the story articulated through cartoons, Sohn expressed that he put extra effort to bringing the original piece on screen.

“There were things that were possible to demonstrate and those that were not,” he said, adding that he worked closely with special effect team to find animals that could be made as a realistic suit.

To condense the comic series into two-hour film, the director took the central theme and reshaped it to bring out the comedy through casts members' acting.

“Although some changes were made from the comics, I tried to capture the brilliant imagination, humor and warm sentiment I felt when I first read the piece,” the director said.

He also expressed that he created a subplot of a polar bear suffering mental health from living in the zoo to send a message of animals in captivity. “I added the subplot with the polar bear to express my stance on wild animals put to live with human,” he said.

This is the fourth film in his 19-year career, since his directorial debut with the independent film. “When I made the debut, I never expected to make such few films. But since I write my own script, it takes about two to three years to develop the project,” he noted for the long hiatus between his works.

Humoring the reporters saying he only has time to make couple more films before he die at this speed, the director expressed he will “cherish every moment” of presenting his new comedy to the audiences.