Ju Ji-hoon becomes killer in real story-based 'Dark Figure of Crime'

Actors Kim Yun-seok, left, and Ju Ji-hoon, who appear in the upcoming crime thriller “Dark Figure of Crime” pose during a press conference to promote the film at CGV Apgujeong in southern Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Hankook Sports Economy

By Park Jin-hai

Actor Ju Ji-hoon, who starred recently in the “Along with the Gods” film series and the film “The Spy Gone North,” will play a murderer for the upcoming crime thriller “Dark Figure of Crime.”

Unlike typical crime thrillers that chase a killer, the film, which is based on a true story, follows seven previously unreported counts of additional killings after a murderer already serving jail time confessed to other murders.

Investigating the crimes with no police reports and no bodies found, the film features the intense mind games and psychological confrontation between the killer Kang Tae-oh, played by Ju, who provokes and slips clues to his past crimes as if playing a game, and the detective Kim Hyung-min, played by Kim Yun-seok, who doggedly investigates the vague case.

“I remember it was some time in fall 2012, when I first learned about the 2010 case where the murderer in Busan who dared to confess 11 counts of additional killings and provoked the detective to prove them. The detective faced the irony of identifying victims. The case reminded me of Oedipus and the Sphinx,” said the film's director Kim Tae-gyun during the press conference at a theater in Seoul, Tuesday.

“The following day, I went down to Busan and asked the detective for help, telling him how I wanted to depict the detective's earnest efforts to solve the case in my film. After studying the detective's life and meeting his collogues and his informants, I finished writing the scenario and since then I have been working hard for almost six years to make it into a film.”

The director said he wanted to deliver a message that “when one sticks to his duties, the world becomes a better place.”

“A single detective's passion and tenacity is the inspiration for this film. With others who show skepticism about the case, he doesn't give up and finds the truth behind the wrongful deaths. Although the case is intriguing story wise, I hope my film can deliver a social message,” added Kim.

Ju wore no makeup and shaved his head to make his character more realistic. Ju said learning the Busan dialect was one of his biggest challenges.

“It was almost like a foreign language. I studied it for several months before shooting the film,” said the actor. Co-star Kim Yun-seok praised Ju's acting. “I remember him in his 2007 drama 'The Devil.' I thought he is a very attractive actor. He is one who can freely crisscross between darkness and brightness in acting,” he said.

“Dark Figure of Crime” will hit local theaters in October.