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| ▲ This photo, provided by Warner Bros. Pictures, shows director James Gunn. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by Warner Bros. Pictures, shows a scene of "The Suicide Squad" (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by Warner Bros. Pictures, shows a scene of the filming. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo, provided by Warner Bros. Pictures, shows a scene from "The Suicide Squad." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) – James Gunn, director of “The Suicide Squad,” the movie based on DC comics’ supervillain stories, shared his inspiration from Korean movies.
“I wanted to blend in the Korean film’s beautiful magic into American films,” said Gunn, mentioning Bong Joon-ho’s horror movie “The Host” (2006), during an online press conference, Monday.
“As seen in “The Host”, Korean movies are apt at mixing and combining genres. I tried to bring in those kind of feelings,” said the director. “In addition to Korean movies, I was also inspired from Hong Kong and Japanese films.”
“American blockbusters tend to feature same structures, twists, and similar characters, so I wanted to make a different one. I have been working with this spirit in mind.”
“The Suicide Squad” is a unit consisted of supervillains set to a dangerous mission of erasing the traces of the project about an alien starfish, Starro, in return for reduction of their jail sentences.
As the sequel of “Suicide Squad” (2017), many people have been looking forward to its release, as Gunn is known for his unique sense of humor and own style.
He also has experience of producing Marvel series “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and was able to melt the humor from the Marvel series into the DC Comics’ supervillains.
When asked about the difference between Marvel and DC superhero movies, he said, “’The Suicide Squad’” is an R-rated movie, giving me more creative freedom, which I was also able to enjoy while producing Marvel movies, but the two comics are different in that Marvel is for families and DC is for adults.”
The director is also known to be a huge fan of DC Comics.
“The most appealing part was the main characters. It was interesting that the comics’ main characters are misfit people or those who have made wrong decisions. I enjoyed watching these characters finding opportunities for redemption, unlike other superheroes.”
“Looking back on my childhood, I was treated as a normal kid, but I felt isolated. I think many people also feel they don’t belong to where they are. I am attracted those kind of people,” he said.
“So in the film, I wanted to depict the yearning for a sense of belonging. Villains usually don’t seem like good people. But a good-natured person can also become an anti-hero after going through a lot, which makes me believe that there must be something good inside the anti-heroes too.”
Gunn took considerable thought choosing the main characters for “The Suicide Squad” among the candidates from DC’s villains.
He pasted images of the characters on his office wall to come up with the best combination of villains, wondering whether their stories would blend smoothly into the movie.
The final choices were Harley Quinn (Margo Robbie), Bloodsport (Idris Elba) and Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher2 (Daniela Melchoir), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchain), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone)
In particular, regarding Harley Quinn, who has gained worldwide popularity through “Suicide Squad” Gunn said, “She is the best character of all comics. She even compared with Superman, Wonder Woman or Iron Man.”
“Even in such madness, she learns about and from herself. I couldn’t think of a better match than Margo Robbie to play the role, so I chose her without hesitation.”
The movie has both different and similar points compared with the original comics, according to Gunn.
He noted, “I thought it would look great to put Bloodsport alongside Peacemaker, so I put them together. For the clumsiest villain, I chose Polka-Dot Man and added a tragic history to the character”
“Ratcatcher 2 appears in the film as the daughter of the original Ratcatcher who symbolizes warm emotions. King Shark is as intelligent as human in the comics, but I made him look dumb in the film.”
“I like actions and comedies, but the storyline is also important in a film. Characters play an important role in “The Suicide Squad.” While exploring their own paths, they experience changes in the way they view the world, and the changes affect each other as well.”
The movie is to be released on Aug. 4.
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