T-ara Jiyeon, honeymoon with Hwang Jae-gyun

While Park Ji-yeon, who is married to baseball player Hwang Jae-gyun, was unable to attend, Ji Il-ju and director Lee Soo-seong asked for a lot of interest in 'Gangnam Zombie'.

On the afternoon of the 4th, a press screening for the movie 'Gangnam Zombies' (directed by Lee Soo-seong) was held at the Lotte Cinema Konkuk University entrance in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. Actor Ji Il-ju and director Lee Soo-seong attended the press conference held after the preview. Park Ji-yeon is enjoying a sweet honeymoon after her wedding with Hwang Jae-gyun. Accordingly, it was decided not to attend the 'Gangnam Zombie' promotional schedule.

'Gangnam Zombie' is a comical zombie action movie that depicts the struggle of people who risk their lives to survive in Gangnam, which has become the center of chaos as people showing symptoms of unknown causes appear.

On this day, Director Lee Soo-seong said, "'Gangnam Zombie' is a zombie movie that I made again after 12 years because I asked the CEO of an investment company 3 years ago when the coronavirus pandemic started to think about making a zombie movie. In order to make a movie that evolves from what I made before. “I put in quite a bit of effort,” he said.

How did director Lee Soo-seong come to plan ‘Gangnam Zombie’? He started by saying, "13 years ago, with the feature film 'Mr. Zombie', I made a zombie movie so recklessly that it could be considered reckless. When I asked for investment to make a zombie movie, I was rejected as 'difficult'."

Director Lee Soo-seong said, "After that, K-zombies from 'Train to Busan' and the Netflix series 'Kingdom' developed and became a frequently watched genre. So I decided to make a zombie movie once again. I had a lot of attachment to zombie movies, and I felt like I was back. “I prepared. Among them, Gangnam is a landmark, so I wanted to include a lot of what happened in the movie,” he explained.

Ji Il-ju played the role of Hyeon-seok in the play. Hyunseok is a former standing member of the national taekwondo team. A character who risks his life through chases and duels to survive in a building in Gangnam full of people who have turned into zombies.

Ji Il-ju confessed, “I had a lot of hardships while working on this work.” He continued, "Kicking was very difficult. I went to action school, and the director came and gave me guidance. Kicking was not easy. I had to stretch well and make a lot of combinations, but overall it was difficult. However, the martial arts director and coach made it well. “He gave it to me and took a good picture of it,” he added.

Director Lee Soo-seong told us about the reason for casting Ji Il-ju and Park Ji-yeon. First, regarding Ji Il-ju, he said, "I think this casting was a good case. In the case of actor Ji Il-ju, I thought he had a good mask and was good at action while watching action movies such as 'Yongrugak', so I wanted to work with him if possible." revealed.

Director Lee Soo-seong said, "I was basically good at action scenes while working. It turned out that he was a member of Men's Society. He went beyond the perspective of ordinary actors and audiences and talked well about problems in the scenario that I had not thought of. I received a lot of help. Help. I received it and changed it, but the more I looked at it, the more I felt like I had listened to the story well. He expressed his affection by saying, “The actor helped me a lot in the work.”

Regarding Park Ji-yeon, "I had never met actress Park Ji-yeon before. Around the time of casting, I heard about her through a producer, and she told me that it would be a good idea to turn into an actress and cast her. I did it willingly. What surprised me was that she received basic training at an action school. Her posture, including kicks, came out well. When I asked her, she said she was originally a 3rd degree Taekwondo. She was favorable toward action. Actress Park Ji-yeon's role was more progressive than I thought. Actress Park Ji-yeon was so good at action that she worked hard enough to change the content. “Everything,” he said.

Ji Il-ju said that he originally knew his co-star Park Ji-yeon. He said, "I haven't known actress Park Ji-yeon personally for over 10 years. We met in private and got to know each other. We happened to work together (on a project) by chance. Since we knew each other and were already close, we were able to reduce the time we spent getting to know each other." .

In addition, Ji Il-ju said, "Because he is a bright person to work with, we communicated without hesitation. We talked a lot about the scenario with the director and Ji-yeon. The director listened to our stories a lot, so there were some parts that were reflected. It was a fun work. Working like that. “I think he was a good colleague,” he said with a laugh.

'Gangnam Zombie' recorded pre-sales in a total of 134 countries, including North America, Germany, Thailand, Japan, the Philippines, Mongolia, South America, and Indonesia. Ji Il-ju said, "It is a light and familiar movie. I hope you can enjoy 'Gangnam Zombie' with your lover and family without feeling uncomfortable."

Meanwhile, 'Gangnam Zombie' will be released on the 5th.

Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr