With great power comes great responsibility, and to South Korean actor Hyun Bin, that meant taking it upon himself to gain the kilos for his onscreen role.
AsiaOne recently attended the virtual press conference for Disney+’s upcoming period drama Made in Korea, which stars Hyun Bin as protagonist Baek Ki-tae, chief of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) who lusts after power and leads a double life as a smuggler by night.
In his previous film Harbin (2024), also helmed by Made in Korea’s director Woo Min-ho, the 43-year-old played the lead role of Ahn Jung-geun, a Korean activist who assassinated Japan’s first Prime Minister.
“Director Woo told me that he thought it would be better if I wasn’t very muscular for my character in Harbin, so I lost a lot of weight and muscle mass,” he recounted.
“However, in Made in Korea, I gained about 14 kg compared to what I weighed in Harbin. And I did it on purpose because Ki-tae is someone who’s the chief of the KCIA, which is synonymous with absolute power in 1970s South Korea.
“I wanted his appearance to reflect that as well, and for my character to really dominate the scene the moment he appears.”
When it came to his diet, Hyun Bin remarked that it was more “convenient” as he didn’t have to be as strict with it. As such, his current physique is the heaviest he’s weighed thus far. “I am, for sure, the biggest person among the characters in this series appearance-wise,” he quipped.
Starring opposite him is Jung Woo-sung, also his co-star in Harbin. Both said they had more liberties fleshing out their characters in the drama because of its made-up premise.
Hyun Bin explained: “In Harbin, it’s about the painful Korean history and I played a real-life figure, so that carried a lot of weight and responsibility.
“But this time round with Made in Korea, it’s all fictional with its characters and story, so it was a different kind of take and I was excited to work with director Woo.”
Woo-sung plays prosecutor Jang Gun-young who is hellbent on uncovering Ki-tae’s schemes.
The 52-year-old added: “Harbin was a very difficult piece for us to shoot because it carried a lot of weight, and because we’ve been through that together, I feel like there’s nothing between us in this drama – we could be very frank about any opinion that we had about the series and we had lots of fun on set.”
Playing prosecutor again
Reprising the role of a prosecutor in Made in Korea, Jung Woo-sung spoke about the differences between his part as Han Kang-shik in The King (2017) and as Gun-young.
“Kang-shik is someone who is really in sync with desire – he’s unable to separate his personal desire from his professional ones, so he wants to take hold of his position and use it to his advantage. He’s consumed by this greed,” he clarified.
In contrast, Gun-young’s story is more closely tied to his relationship with his father. Woo-sung explained: “He wants to erase the shame that he carries about his father, and he wants it so badly it’s almost like he’s driven by this personal desire to justify his place within society through his occupation.
“So he’s not someone who’s looking to take ownership of his position but rather, use it for his private desire. So I think these characters couldn’t be any more different.”
Like filming six different movies
South Korean actress Won Ji-an plays Yuji Ikeda, who is the second-in-rank in the Japanese yakuza who eventually collaborates with Ki-tae in the series. “I really focused on the language part,” said the 26-year-old. “It was a new experience for me, learning Japanese and delivering my lines in the language [for the first time].”
With the drama’s premise set in 1970s South Korea, a big portion of the production budget went into sourcing for its filming locations and sets.
Due to the country’s rapid economic growth, much of 1970s South Korea no longer exists as everything has been rebuilt. In order to emulate the era’s “ragged, worn-out” vibes, director Min-ho shared that the series was filmed in parts of Japan and Thailand, highlighting Kobe city for its Busan-like port city.
He regarded filming the six episodes as filming six different movies: “There’s no difference for me taking on this role just because it’s a streaming show. It’s just like a movie to me – I want it to be very well-made and cinematic.
“With these six episodes, that’s a lot of screen time we have to film, so we must focus and choose what we want to, compared to a two-hour movie.”
At a Disney+ originals preview at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort in November, it was revealed that the drama has received an early renewal for a second season whose production is currently ongoing.
Made in Korea, which also stars Woo Do-hwan, Seo Eun-soo, Cho Yeo-jeong and Park Yong-woo, will premiere on Disney+ on Dec 24.
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kristy.chua@asiaone.com
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