InterviewYoo Hae-jin tackles ambition, nuance in crime thriller 'YADANG: The Snitch'

Actor Yoo Hae-jin / Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment

Veteran actor Yoo Hae-jin, fresh off the success of the 2024 occult hit "Exhuma," has returned to the big screen in the gritty crime thriller "YADANG: The Snitch."

Playing an ambitious prosecutor entangled in the dangerous world of drug informants, Yoo delves into a character driven by a thirst for power, while consciously aiming to break audience expectations.

"I just hope my new movie goes well," Yoo told The Korea Times during an interview at a cafe in Seoul Tuesday.

“The weather is nice, so hopefully that energy carries into the theater. Although, when the weather’s this good, it might not be great for the box office,” he added with a laugh.

"YADANG: The Snitch" explores the shadowy operations of "yadang," Korean slang for informants who provide information about drug dealers and buyers to law enforcement authorities. Yoo portrays Koo Kwan-hee, a prosecutor who uses information from a yadang, Lee Kang-su (Kang Ha-neul), to climb the career ladder, but clashes with a detective, Oh Sang-jae (Park Hae-joon), who is determined to stamp out the drug dealers.

The film marks the 55-year-old actor’s first time playing a prosecutor, a role often depicted as following certain elite stereotypes in Korean cinema. However, Yoo sought a different path.

“I heard that I didn’t seem like a typical prosecutor described in many Korean movies. Just because someone is ambitious, I didn’t think realistically they would dramatically show themselves chasing that ambition externally,” Yoo said.

He drew parallels to his approach in previous roles.

“When I played the king in ‘The Night Owl,’ I also thought I didn’t want it to be typical. My goal as an actor has always been taking a conventional story and making it seem unconventional. I intended to create slight differences.”

Actor Yoo Hae-jin, left, in a scene from movie “YADANG: The Snitch” / Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment

To add depth to the prosecutor's motivations, Yoo personally proposed a backstory that wasn’t included in the original script.

"The part where he constantly heard 'You must succeed,' from his mother wasn't in the script, but I suggested the director add it,” he said. "My own mother used to tell me, 'You must live well.' That memory came back to me and I felt it could help explain the root of Koo’s ambition. I pitched the idea to the director and I think it was the right call."

He further elaborated on how this shapes the character's actions.

"This connects later to when he tells Kang-su that when you're high up, you're scared, so you try to hold on tightly so you don't lose it. It shows this person's life,” he said, explaining how he tried to visualize a specific image of his character.

“At the end, when he's hurriedly searching under the sofa for the wiretap, I wanted my character to look like a cockroach."

Yoo chose "YADANG: The Snitch" partly due to the novelty of its subject matter.

"Yadang was a fresh and lesser-known topic in the Korean film scene. Also, there aren't as many films to choose compared to the past. It's not a situation where I can pick and choose like in the past. Among the options, this had the freshest material," he said.

Actors Yoo Hae-jin, right, and Kang Ha-neul in a scene from movie “YADANG: The Snitch” / Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment

Speaking of co-stars, Yoo said working alongside Kang for the first time left him with a positive impression, noting his approach to junior actors.

"It was my first time working with Ha-neul and I liked that he was so straightforward. We shared opinions freely and reached conclusions cleanly,” he said. "Making sure junior actors don't feel burdened and see me as a colleague is an important task for me when working on a project. If they think, 'That senior actor is difficult to work with,’ a good movie won’t come out."

Reflecting on his early career, Yoo admitted struggling with being typecast after roles in films like "Attack the Gas Station!" (1999) and "Kick the Moon" (2001), movies in which he played what he called “thug” roles.

"For a while, only thug roles came to me and I felt skeptical. I thought, 'This isn't why I became an actor,'" he said. "Looking back, those roles were necessary for me to continue acting until now, but at the time, I felt conflicted."

When asked about the downturn in the Korean film market, Yoo offered a realistic perspective.

"As an actor, I hope the industry gets better. But I think this is just a flow, a cycle. I just hope that flow comes back to cinema," he said.

"All I can do is work harder. I think the only way I can help change the current is to make movies more fun by working harder. My only thought is that we need to make good films so that audiences feel it was worthwhile coming to the theater."

“YADANG: The Snitch” will hit theaters Wednesday.