'Confidential Assignment 2: International' by director Lee Suk-hoon 'Tried to find golden ratio between newness and familiarity'

연합뉴스 / 2022-09-06 10:09:09

▲This photo, provided by CJ ENM, shows the movie "Confidential Assignment 2: International" (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲This photo, provided by CJ ENM shows Lee Suk-hoon, the director of the movie "Confidential Assignment 2: International" (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲This photo, provided by CJ ENM, shows the movie "Confidential Assignment 2: International" (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, September 6 (Yonhap) --"I really liked it when I heard that they were working on a scenario with the concept of three-way cooperation, and I joined immediately because i thought there would be a lot of interesting stories."

Director Lee Suk-hoon, whom we met virtually on September 5, came back as a director in seven years with the movie "Confidential Assignment 2: International." He said, "I feel a lot of burden because people will be comparing it to the first episode, but we put in a lot of effort in order to provide more variety of sights and fun for the audience."

"Confidential Assignment 2: International" will be released on September 7. It depicts a story about a cooperative investigation done by Kang Jin-tae (Yoo Hae-jin), Lim Chol-ryong (Hyun Bin), and Jack (Daniel Henney), representing South Korea, North Korea, and the United States in order to catch a criminal.

Director Lee said, "As Kang Jin-tae (Yoo Hae-jin) and Lim Chol-ryong (Hyun Bin)'s characters were already built in the first episode, Jack (Daniel Henney), the newly added character, is very important." He added, "I thought about Daniel Henney ever since we were writing the scenario."

"We characterized all three characters as good-natured people because they had to become friends. However, because Jack had to make waves, we characterized him as provocative and cheeky. I know it depends on the person, but most Americans are confident and straight-forward, like when Jack says, "You're a hobit? An Ant Man? "when he first saw Jin-tae.

The images of the three people in the investigation process also resemble the relationship between the three countries. Chol-ryong and Jack get aggressive whenever they encounter each other. Chol-ryong thinks South Korea and the U.S. are on the same side, and Jack thinks South and North Korea are on the same side.

"The relationship between South-North Korea and North Korea-US hasn't changed much in the last 10 or 20 years, and it seems that they are going between good and bad. I used the word national representative in the movie, and I think the way the three characters represent their nation brings out tension and comedy. I tried to draw out that kind of fun from the dialogue and situations as much as possible."

Director Lee stated that he tried to find the golden ratio between newness and familiarity, as this is a sequel movie. "New things are obviously needed and beneficial, but I believe they should not be unfamiliar."Also, if a movie becomes too familiar, the audience will lose interest. Therefore, I tried to look for the golden ratio.

It was also another concern that Chol-ryong's "Tissue Action," which beats gangsters with a roll of tissue that was loved in the previous episode, was transformed into a "Fly Flap Action." "I thought it would be fun if Chol-ryong grabbed the tissue again, but I thought it would have made the movie too dependent on the first episode, so I made a bold decision to take it out.

"Director Lee also recalled how the energetic attitudes of actors Hyun-bin, Yoo Hae-jin, and other lead characters aided in the production.The rooftop action scene that appears in the second half of the play was originally planned to be filmed by dividing the composition of Chol-ryong on the roof and Jin-tae under the building, but Yoo Hae-jin’s decided to ‘go up on the roof’, and two people’s teamwork could come out more eye-catching. Hyun-Bin also managed to finish filming without interruption, even though his forehead was slightly torn during the shooting.

"Yoo Hae-jin was my emotional support while we were making "The Pirates." He supported me a lot this time as well. It was my first time working with Hyun-bin, and he was someone who carefully prepared in advance by thinking about every circumstance. We were able to get a better picture because Hyun-bin tried to do every action as much as possible."

"Confidential Assignment 2: International" is the only new Korean movie being released during this Chuseok holiday. Director Lee said, "We are glad that we do not have big competitions, but at the same time, we are also worried if people might just lose interest in the cinema." He added, "We are carefully looking forward to being able to cross the break-even point."

I think "Confidential Assignment 2: International" is solely made to give the audience joy. Hurricanes and inflation may have caused a lot of concern, but I hope everyone comes to see "Confidential Assignment 2: International" during the Chuseok holiday and forgets about their worries.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Dowon Kim.)

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