[INTERVIEW] Gang Dong-won focuses on portraying feelings of orphan in 'Broker'

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Sat, September 23, 2023 | 22:16

Films

INTERVIEWGang Dong-won focuses on portraying feelings of orphan in 'Broker'

Posted : 2022-06-08 15:03

Updated : 2022-06-08 16:20

Actor Gang Dong-won plays a lead role in director Hirokazu Kore-eda's new drama film, "Broker," which was released Wednesday. Courtesy of YG Entertainment

Actor participates in film from script-developing stage

By Lee Gyu-lee

Actor Gang Dong-won has been building a wide repertoire across genres, taking on various roles: from a sneaky con artist in the crime film, "A Violent Prosecutor" (2015), to a heroic soldier in the apocalyptic blockbuster film, "Peninsula" (2020).

In Palme d'Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda's latest film, "Broker," the actor portrays baby broker Dong-soo who grew up in an orphanage without knowing his parents. Teaming up with debt-ridden dry cleaner owner Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho), he steals babies from a baby box, a place where people can anonymously abandon their newborns, with the "well-intentioned justification" of taking a shortcut to find them a new home while making money himself.

"As I've mostly done (dynamic) genre films until now, it felt much more comfortable to portray an everyday character," Gang said during an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Jongno District, central Seoul, Tuesday.

"Dong-soo grew up in an orphanage but I wanted to portray him as being pretty well brought up and bright. I didn't want to portray him as depressing," he said.

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Dong-soo, who never had parents, harbors resentment toward the people who abandon their babies in the box. But as he goes on a journey with So-young (Lee Ji-eun) to find new parents who can take good care of her son, he learns there's more to it than just giving up their own child.

A scene from the film, "Broker" / Courtesy of CJ ENM

Gang said that he interviewed people who were in similar situations to Dong-soo to build his character.

"I tried to capture the stories of people like Dong-soo who grew up in an orphanage. Although he doesn't overtly show his emotions dynamically, I tried to always keep that feeling inside," he said, recalling one of the people he interviewed.

"There was a person who was old and I asked if he wants to meet his mother. And he said that strong feeling (toward his mother) faded away as he got older, but added that he wants to see her just one time before he dies. And those two feelings were the base for portraying my character."

The actor said he hopes to give a sense of comfort through the film.

"One thing I learned as I met people from the orphanage is that they have their own pain … I heard that kids at the orphanage really want to be adopted, so whenever they see a car coming to the orphanage, they just run toward it and follow it," he said. "I hope the audiences can empathize with that sort of desperation and hope felt by the children. And I hope that this film might offer comfort to them."

Gang shared that he got on board with the film since the process of developing the script, after meeting the director about seven years ago and talking about doing a project together.

"As we talked about working together even before there was a script, I got involved with the film since the developing stage of the script," he said, adding that he took part in the pre-production of the film. "I also wanted to help out with scouting the locations for the shooting, but I was overseas back then so I couldn't … so this became the first project that I took part in producing."

"Broker" hit local theaters on Wednesday.

gyulee@koreatimes.co.kr