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| Actor Jang Dong-yoon / Courtesy of TCO |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Actor Jang Dong-yoon found fame accidentally after giving a TV interview for stopping a robbery at a convenience store. He immediately went viral on the internet with his act of bravery and good looks. Then Jang was approached by the head of an entertainment agency. This changed the course of his life.
"Acting wasn't something that was even on my radar. I was about to start my internship at a financial company when I got a call from the agency," he said during an interview with The Korea Times in a cafe in Seoul, Friday.
The up-and-coming actor was keen to express something different by playing the mysterious criminal Do-il in "Project Wolf Hunting," a slasher film that revolves around a cargo ship that transports dangerous criminals from overseas. En route to Korea from the Philippines, the imprisoned criminals, each with their own motives, unleash a sinister force in an attempt to escape.
"The film is loaded with gore elements that Korean audiences have never seen on screen before, but there is nothing too special about the characters," he said. "I didn't choose this project intentionally to break away from a set image. I look for a number of things: the script, director, co-stars and many others."
Although "Project Wolf Hunting" is an action-heavy film, Jang was asked not to train too hard for the action sequences. "To my surprise, director Kim Hong-sun didn't want us to practice action scenes too much. Whenever I worked on the choreography before we shot our fight scene, he came up to me and said, 'That's enough.'"
"The dialogue for my character in the film was very sparse, so director Kim asked me to communicate with movement and facial expressions to get Do-il's feelings and emotions across. It was a good experiment," he said.
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| A scene from the film, "Project Wolf Hunting" / Courtesy of TCO |
Asked about the film's extreme violence, which includes scenes where heads are split open, bodies are cut and arms are chewed out, Jang said director Kim created a comfortable, collaborative environment on set.
"Although our film is about psychos and senseless killings, the working environment was quite the opposite. The cast and crew got along really well. Everyone was so friendly and talkative," he said.
Jang recalled attending the Toronto International Film Festival where "Project Wolf Hunting" was invited to the Midnight Madness section, which recognizes movies in the horror, action and fantasy genres. "Unlike in Korea, the audience clapped and cheered when watching the film. I was blown away by being invited and the experience," he said.
In addition, the film was invited to the L'etrange Festival in France and the U.S. film festival, Fantastic Fest.
Asked if he is willing to star in a prequel film to "Project Wolf Hunting," which, according to director Kim, is already written and explores how the characters end up on the cargo ship back to Korea, Jang said he is eager to join the next project.
"I heard that director Kim already wrote an entire script for the prequel and that he also has a sequel in mind. Hopefully, this film performs well at the box office, so we can make the other two films," he said.
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