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| ▲This photo, provided by Plus M Entertainment show director Lee Won-tae. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo, provided by Plus M Entertainment show scene of 'The Devil's Deal.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo, provided by Plus M Entertainment show director Lee Won-tae. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo, provided by Plus M Entertainment show scene of 'The Devil's Deal.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo, provided by Plus M Entertainment show director Lee Won-tae. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL February 24 (Yonhap) -- “I think the story being portrayed throughout the movie ‘The Devil’s Deal’ is valid for as long as the world exists, because the world that we currently live in has been like this since the past.”
The upcoming South Korean movie “The Devil’s deal” is about want to be politician Hae-woong acted by Cho Jin-woong. He partners with gang leader Pil-do acted by Kim Mu-yeol and secret confidential document and goes against the hidden power Soon-tae, acted by Lee Sung-min. However, throughout the process of going up against the true evil, Hae-woong slowly turns into one.
Director Lee Won-tae participated in an interview regarding the upcoming movie “The Devil’s Deal” on Friday at a small café in Jongno district
Director Lee addressed “Want and hankering of power possessed within deep down in our human nature will never change,” adding “I do not want to believe it but that’s just how the world is.”
In the past, Lee Won-tae showcased the unfortunate nature of human nature and power through a movie “The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” released in 2019. “The world is filled with good people, however there are those who lives in the shadow.” addressed director Lee throughout his interview.
“I believe there are certain things that are being implemented within the shadowed part of our society, that we don’t want to see nor believe. Like the absurdity being implemented within our society. I feel like directors are the ones who create their movies based on the facts that we need to know, however it is too uncomfortable for people to address freely.” adding “I have created new characters in order to showcase the true nature of power.” stated director Lee Won-tae throughout his interview.
Moreover, director addressed “Soon-tae is the antagonist character within the movie which perfectly depicts the idea of evil within our society that we are not aware of despite of his potential to get his hands on anybody. In order to implement the idea of hidden power, I have tried to cast more shadows on the character, and left out the details of who he truly is. On the contrary Pil-do is a representing figure of violence. Power comes with ability to take control and with Pil-do he uses his power and violence to stay on top. Since Pil-do contradicts Soon-tae’s way of withholding his power he was a necessary character within the movie,” adding “As far as the protagonist Hae-woong goes, there are just so much to talk about.”
“Hae-woong is a nice and pure character without any motif to become evil, however I wanted to portray the danger of having an ambition, and moreover, I wanted the audience to know how the trust between individual can be easily broken and stays shallow within the surface of human relationship. Also I wanted to showcase the dual nature of Hae-woong, although he slowly become more subjected to the evil nature of power, however in return he is granted with money and power.” director Lee Won-tae addressed throughout the interview.
The movie “The Devil’s deal takes place in Busan of 1992. The background set in the movie is the first year where all of the elections starting from presidential election to general elections were co-aligned.
“In the past, I did not take into consideration of South Korea’s political stance,” adding “I personally avoided diving too deep into the stance within that era because it might fog up my will to stay unbiased throughout the production, I wanted to address the story of a normal people. To me the most important aspect while under production was the idea of ‘How cornered would politicians be if both presidential election and general election were to be held on the same year.’ Since there are some possibilities of potential miss interpretation due to the movie taking place in Busan, I thought of switching the background to Seoul.” director Lee carefully addressed throughout the interview.
One of the points to watch within the movie “The Devil’s deal” is the fascinating acting skills portrayed throughout the movie. Actors Cho Jin-woong, Kim Mu-yeol, Lee Sung-min showcased charismatic acting skills throughout every scene of the movie.
“Actor Lee Sung-min who is known for his charismatic and un-doubtable acting skills, with actor Cho Jin-woong and Kim Mu-yeol who goes up against such charismatic character was unbelievable. Although I have worked with both Cho Jin-woong and Kim Mu-yeol in the past but they have showcased very different characteristics throughout the production of ‘The Devil’s Deal.’” addressed director Lee Won-tae.
The highlight scene of the movie is where Hae-woong goes against Soon-tae at an old food parlor. Director Lee addressed “I don’t know whether I will be able to whiteness such great actors act out such powerful scene throughout my career of directing in the future.”
Continuing on director Lee Won-tae addressed “I was very nervous when before shooting the scene, since its such emotionally intense scene, I decided not to tamper with actors emotions. I don’t know whether you guys, caught this throughout the movie, but the scene at the food parlor only showcases straight shots of two characters shot by fixed cameras, that is because we didn’t want to move in and out of the scene to bother the actors with the outburst of emotions throughout the scene. Production crews who worked on the scenes stayed focused while shooting the scene to a point where the shooting of the scene was kept dead silent.”
As interview continued on director stated “When actor Cho Jin-woong started to sweat towards the end of the scene I was surprised,” adding “How can one manage to control the sweat, it as if someone worked on the scene with a computer graphic technique.”
Director Lee Won-tae worked on movies such as “The Devil’s Deal,” “The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” and more of productions which depicts very grim matters within our society. “Although I do not have any plans for my next production, however I do not want to engage in any of the dark or grim productions” director chuckled throughout his interview.
“I feel like as I continue to engage in dark and grim subject matter I have felt the changes within me, that is why I decided, that I want to participate in more uplifting and positive story, however I don’t know what will happen in the future.” director lightly smiled.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Joonha Yoo)
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