[FULL TRANS] Yoo Ah In Talks More About HELLBOUND in the Series Production Press Conference 2021.11.16
Hellbound character poster, main poster and banner
Hellbound new stills
Fantasy horror HELLBOUND, which will be released this Friday, November 19 at 5pm KST, held a press conference on November 16 prior to its release.
Hellbound Production Press Conference
In the dystopian world of Hellbound, the Netflix original series created by filmmaker Yeon Sang Ho of the zombie thriller Train to Busan (2016), many people eyewitness strange, smoky golem-like beings appearing out of nowhere and chasing a man into the street. The creatures burn him to death and disappear with white supernatural flames left behind. It is based on a webtoon titled “Hell,” written and drawn by Yeon and which received widespread acclaim since its release in 2019.
Yoo Ah In – HELLBOUND Production Conference 2021.11.16
Hellbound Final Trailer (ENGSUB)
Director Yeon said in an online press conference held Tuesday he wanted to feature a “clash of beliefs” in a society where people wonder about divinity and create their own religions and philosophies about heaven, hell and angels. “I wanted to create a world within a movie where I can play around. And the Hellbound series is the first work that felt like a playground. The characters in the series are normal people, like those we can easily find around us. Each of them has their own beliefs, and the audience can agree with one or the other, or otherwise disagree. And by seeing those beliefs coming into conflict, I hope viewers can take a moment to think about our society. I hope this series can stir up discussions on this kind of issue.”
He also said that the supernatural creatures, which come from hell and cruelly kill people who are known to receive a divine revelation to be punished, symbolizes violence by a majority against an individual. “Behind the creatures, there is fear and horror of mass violence. I hope people will think about our society and ideological diversity after watching the clashes of individual beliefs,” He said.
Yoo Ah In said he was fascinated by Yeon’s universe created in Hellbound. “The word ‘hell’ was so strong that I was caught by it. I liked this story talking about hell that not many films or TV series have dealt with,” he said.
Yoo Ah In said he was drawn to the series just by looking at the title. “The title itself was very interesting. There has been a lot of work that depicted hell, but this was the first project (I came across) that had hell in the title. That drew my interest and stirred my curiosity. I was curious what it would be like to be part of director Yeon’s cinematic universe.”
Yoo Ah In plays Jung Jin Soo, the founder and leader of the new religious group whose intense charisma attracts many passionate and radical followers who believe that the supernatural phenomena are a revelation from god. He introduced his character as someone who “gives meaning and order to a world where supernatural phenomena, angelic highs, and demonstrations of hell are taking place, and encourages people to live righteously.”
He said, “Jin Soo doesn’t call himself the leader of the religion but calls himself a researcher who looks deeply into the mysterious phenomena. I think Jin Soo is a person who tries to bring order into the chaotic world.”
He described his character as a mysterious person who is twisted yet calls for divine justice. “He gives meaning to the supernatural occurrences and recommends people to live a righteous life. But he’s actually very twisted inside, yet he continues to give vivid pronouncements (on justice). So I tried to approach this character with a focus on figuring out his real intention and imaging what would be going through his mind (in each scene).”
Director Yeon said that he had Yoo Ah In in mind for the character since he wrote the script. He was even more desperate for his casting because Yoo Ah In took time to think about it and made him worry. “I thought of Yoo Ah In when I wrote the character. So I’ve waited so badly for Yoo Ah In to accept the role and it finally came true when he took it,” he said.
Director Yeon confessed that even in his dreams he wanted Yoo Ah In to be in the cast. Director Yeon made everyone laugh by recalling, “I once had a dream. In my dream, Yoo Ah In told me ‘I’m Yoo Ah In. I’ll do it.’ Then I woke up and realized it was just a dream, and there was a teardrop on my face. But after that, Yoo Ah In called me for real. He said he decided to participate in the work. I jumped 2 meters and shouted ‘yahoo~!’😃”.
Hearing this, Yoo Ah In replied in a hilarious way, “Isn’t that a lie? Were there really tears on your cheeks?” He added, “We have to negotiate the fees 😃,” drawing laughter.
Yoo Ah In confessed he actually liked the drama from the beginning, “I liked the project so much from the beginning. There are works that are immediately attracted to you with just a few keywords and a few lines of explanation. Even before I saw the script, I was immediately drawn to it. I went crazy after hearing the summary. Living as an actor for half my life, I barely encountered a project like that, but this was one of them.”
Yoo Ah In said he simply relied on the “perfect” script to play his role. He continued, “The script was so well written that I didn’t have to think too much about how to express it on the set. I did the acting to the max of my ability as I worked on the scene after consulting with the director. I had a prior discussion about the character with the director instead of just acting as written, but I left myself open to how the character would react and to what point I would go to on the set”.
“He has a distorted psyche and is twisted in some sense. He is strong willed about preaching his conviction to the world. He has rage, maybe desperation. I think he is lonely, so I tried to find out what led to his loneliness,” he added. [T/N: Earlier in his interview with the press in Busan, Yoo Ah In also said that Jung Jin soo is not a religious sect leader that’s commonly thought of. I imagined, discussed, and refined the character’s singularity.”]
Yoo Ah In’s one-take shooting for a particular scene in Hellbound has been a hot topic since last week. Asked about the huge amount of dialogue that he just finished in one take, he said, “It was about the same amount of lines as the lines of my five recent works combined. I captured the character’s inner state and outside vibe the moment I actually spit out the words. And then I moved forward to the end. It was a painful process, but it was exhilarating/thrilling afterwards.”
Director Yeon Sang-ho, who directly adapted his webtoon for the series, shared, “The cast’s roles in this work were absolute.” He also revealed that he put a lot of effort into casting actors who perfectly matched characters.
To the people saying Yoo Ah In has a high synchronization rate with the character Jung Jin Soo, Yoo Ah In responded, “Is it really good to be that high? (laughs) If we have similar distinctive points, I think the result would be (automatically) similar. I just learned that my image/physique was like that of the character Jeong Jin Soo in the webtoon when I heard that the synchronization was high.”
In Hellbound, Yoo Ah In sported a new long hairstyle compared to his previous roles where he had short haircuts and even bald head. Yoo Ah In said, “I changed my appearance to synchronize with the original character. When I let my fringes down, I looked disturbing and mysterious.”
The six-part Hellbound has been at the center of global attention as another Netflix Korean-language original series targeting the global audience following the smash hit “Squid Game” released two months ago. Before its official release on the streaming platform later this week, it had its world premiere in September at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, becoming the first Korean-made TV series to be screened at the festival. Its first three episodes were also screened at this year’s Busan International Film Festival and at the BFI London Film Festival in October.
Yoo Ah In shared his feeling about HELLBOUND first screening at the Busan International Film Festival, “When Hellbound was screened at the Busan International Film Festival, I watched it together (with the audience) as well, and I saw the audience in the front row focused on the series without a single move from episode 1 to 3. (Hence) I had a unique experience of falling into it together with them. I saw no one went to the bathroom during the screening.”
Hellbound, penned by Choi Kyu Seok, may be Yeon’s first series but the experience of working on the long format of storytelling wasn’t entirely as different as making movies. “This is a live-action series, but the staff was the same from when I shot the movies. I don’t think it was that different, it was like filming a few movies back-to-back. I enjoyed it even more,” he added.
Last but not least, Yoo Ah In conveyed his message to the viewers, “I hope you all can focus on your own feelings while watching this series. I think Hellbound will be one of your all-time favorites.”
Hellbound will be available on Netflix from Friday.
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