"You don't have to be too careful"'Escape' Director Kim Tae-gon's sincerity ahead of the release of 'Lee Sun-kyun's posthumous work' (Roundup)

Jul 10, 2024

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Head coach Kim Tae-gon (44) expressed his expectations and concerns for this year's largest blockbuster 'escape', which has suffered ups and downs.

Director Kim Tae-gon, who directed the disaster film 『Escape: PRODUCT SILENCE" (hereinafter \"Escape", produced by Vlad Studio). He met with Sports Chosun at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 10th and shared his thoughts with the late Lee Sun-kyun, Joo Ji-hoon, and Kim Hee-won from the moment of directing Escape.

'Escape' tells the story of people struggling to survive out-of-control military experimental dogs released on the airport bridge on the verge of collapse after a series of crashes in thick fog. "Escape", which dramatically deals with the extreme series of disasters as everyday spaces turn into nightmare scenes and friendly beings turn into threats, was invited to the 76th Cannes International Film Festival Midnight Screening section last year, released worldwide, and made its debut with the first movie of the theater tentpole this summer, about a year and two months later.

Director Kim Tae-gon, who tried his second commercial film through the `Goodbye Single' since the release of 2.1 million people in 2016, said "The previous film was `Goodbye Single", and he was given a safe choice of comedy genre." There were also repetitions of familiar things. As a director, I wanted to take on a different challenge as a screenwriter. In fact, before challenging commercial films, he challenged various subjects and genres in independent films. After 'Goodbye Single', I got a lot of suggestions for comedy screenplay, but I wanted to try different genres of disaster action thrillers and other movies"Escape" is a work I made when I was mentally struggling. At that time, I went on a walking tour from Mokpo to Seoul to organize my mind. It took about 20 days, but don't you think there are wild dogs as you walk along the national road? I remember being chased by a wild dog in the evening. There were 20 dogs, and the experience of being chased by the dogs remained intense. I wondered what it would be like to use this as a subject. These dogs could have lived as someone's dogs, but I wondered if it had come to this point, and I tried to put it in the 'escape'."

On animal photography, he said, "Goodbye Single" is a movie in which a dog and a child appear. I had know-how, so I wanted to take a real dog for the first time when I 'escape'. But when I saw it, I thought I couldn't film it. So I filmed Jodie as a real dog because I wanted to implement all military experimental dogs with CG and express the relationship. Jodie was too smart. Jodie is a mixed dog, and she also hit it off well with the character of Jo Park (Joo Ji-hoon). It was a hazy scene full of fog, but there was something comforting about Jodi"I laughed.

'Escape' is the largest blockbuster this year, with a net production cost of 18.5 billion won (4 million profit and loss). Director Kim Tae-gon, who must be under considerable pressure for the success, said, `I really don't know the success score. There is, of course, a burden. As a director, I just want many people to watch 'escape'. No one knows the score. Originally, I always checked the score by looking at the movie theater admission integrated computer network site of the Korean Film Council every day, but I thought I would be really distracted. It seems that there is only a humble wait for the audience's evaluation because the dice of the `escape' has been thrown.

In particular, 'Escape' was the posthumous work of the late Lee Sun-kyun, which caused the audience to be disappointed. Earlier, Lee Sun-kyun died on December 27 of that year while under police investigation after being booked on charges of marijuana enjoyment under the Narcotics Control Act in October last year. After encountering the worst disaster in history in 'escape', Lee Sun-kyun showed his presence as Jung Won, the administrator of the security office, who is gradually changing in extreme circumstances, and received much attention as a posthumous work that can see his last passionate performance.

Director Kim Tae-gon said of the late Lee Sun-kyun "Lee Sun-kyun was an actor I knew even before I made my directorial debut. At the time of 'Goodbye Single', the production company was Sunkyun's agency. At that time, Lee Jung-eun, CEO of Walnut & U Entertainment, met Sun-kyun frequently while producing Goodbye Single, and he developed a favorable impression of humans. When it comes to disaster movies, aren't there actors who have usually done it? But Sun-kyun has been doing a lot of genres as well as movies directed by Hong Sang-soo. Nevertheless, he didn't do a disaster. When I first suggested it to Sunkyun, 'Am I?' He was surprised. As you can see from the movie, Sun-kyun took the center stage well even though it was his first disaster. Sun-kyun's role in leading the entire blockbuster was burdensome, but he did it so brilliantly."

Then "Lee Sun-kyun is a very difficult actor. What it means is that there is no way to just skip one thing. Our movie deals with what happens on the bridge, and the movements of the characters as well as the gods were all different. I had to have a good understanding of this work. So I discussed and explained everything with Sunkyun. In addition, Sun-kyun gave me an idea when there was a shortfall I missed. If all of these things were agreed upon, I worked very hard on filming. There were also dangerous scenes during filming, and usually actors can be afraid or think negatively when danger is detected, but Sun-kyun didn't have that point. 'It's so nice' 'Let's hurry up and shoot ' The risk-taking point for the movie was wonderful."

He was also very careful about the title of `Lee Sun-kyun's posthumous work```. Everyone was in a very cautious mood. But this time, the premiere of 'Escape' and the stage greeting reaction were different from what we thought. It felt like the audience's reaction to the movie or the stage greeting welcomed it. Seeing the audience's reaction, I thought I didn't have to think too carefully. I thought Sun-kyun would want that, too. I think it's important for us to promote and watch this movie a lot. Maybe that's what Sun-kyun wants, too. "

He was then given the title 'Our movie is a posthumous work of Lee Sun-kyun', but as a director, I just thought I should make it well. I had time from the screening of the Cannes Film Festival to the release, and I thought it was an opportunity. I only wanted to make a movie that could satisfy the audience more by increasing the degree of completion. However, I thought that I should not avoid or go too far in order to eliminate such titles. The audience could have felt uncomfortable. I thought it was for Sun-kyun to keep this work intact. I made the movie as I originally thought and planned. I think the part that feels combined with the outside of the movie is different for each person's feelings"He meant it.