Undercover cops at career crossroads
From left, cast members of cop comedy “Extreme Job” Ryu Seung-ryong, Jin Seon-kyu, Lee Ha-nee, Lee Dong-hwi, Gong-myung pose during a press conference to promote the film at CGV Apgujeong in southern Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of CJENM
'
Extreme
Job
hilariously
depicts
cops
dilemma
By Kang Aa-young
In the forthcoming film “Extreme Job,” five members of a drug squad are at a career crossroads.
Their team is on the verge of being dissolved due to their poor performances.
In a desperate endeavor to survive, all five agreed to go for an unprecedented plan to bust a drug ring.
With the aim of finding the smoking gun, they open a fried chicken restaurant in front of the drug gangs' hideout. Their initial plan was to sell fried chicken during the daytime to hide their identity and hunt down drug gangs at night.
Unexpectedly, their chicken business goes so well and the restaurant becomes a popular eatery. Facing this rare business success, the undercover cops are dealing with a tricky situation_ should they hunt down the drug dealers as they intended or change their careers and sell chicken for money?
In the film, actor Jin Seon-kyu, who rose to stardom with “The Outlaws,” plays a witty undercover police officer. He is the key figure behind the success of the fried chicken restaurant. In the film, his parents own a Korean barbeque restaurant in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province and he is all too familiar with a recipe for great taste.
His hilarious character in the “Extreme Job” is the opposite of what he did in the popular “The Outlaws” where he played a ruthless, cruel gang member who did anything to make money.
Ryu Seung-ryong plays chief Go, a determined but poorly performing cop. He is a dedicated worker who invests his retirement fund into the fried chicken business.
Detective Jang, played by Lee Ha-nee, is a dodgy cop, while detective Young-ho, played by Lee Dong-hwi, is the team's determined goal-setter and the enthusiastic detective Jae-hoon, played by Gong-myung, is the youngest team member and cheerleader.
“It's a film that anyone can relate to,” said the film director Lee Byeong-heon during the press conference at a theater in Seoul, Monday. “Life is tough for everyone. I just wanted to make people laugh.”
Lee is known for his own style of comedy, often dubbed as a “magician of words.” His well thought-out script often brings unexpected humor to viewers.
His past work "What a Man Wants" (2017) shows his signature “out of the box” style. The movie attracted more than a million viewers in Korea in two weeks.
For Korean moviegoers, cop-comedy is a guaranteed box office hit, especially when it's Seollal, the Lunar New Year.
Actress Lee Ha-nee doesn't wear any makeup in the film to make her character seem raw. Lee said filming without makeup was one of the biggest challenges for her.
She said it took her less than 10 minutes to get her hair and makeup done for the scenes. “As time has passed, I didn't even monitor my acting after shooting. I was not sure I could act without makeup. But I had to. Because I had belief that I could act well if I stop being pretentious"
“Extreme Job,” which opens January, also features highly anticipated action scenes, including a multi-car crash scene that they filmed during the summer, amid a record breaking heat wave.
With its easy to relate to, yet out-of-the-box plot, the film will take the viewers to the real life struggle of cops.
The director said he wanted to deliver a humorous message to everyone through its characters' endless devotion.
"Extreme Job" will hit local theaters in January.