[Comprehensive] Ten Million Actor Choi Min-sik: "Watching Reminded Me of "

Movie 'Isanghan Nara-ui Suhakja' Production Report Conference
Choi Min-sik Returns to the Screen After 3 Years

Photo by Showbox

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Isul] The actor with over ten million viewers, Choi Min-sik, returns to Chungmuro as a math genius security guard.

At the online production presentation of the film In Our Prime held on the morning of the 15th, Choi Min-sik said, "When I read the script, I thought of Good Will Hunting," adding, "I wanted a drama that depicts a world beyond just academies."

Choi Min-sik, who debuted in 1989 with the drama Years of Ambition, has been a leading actor in Chungmuro through films such as Shiri (1999), Failan (2001), Oldboy (2003), Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time (2012), and New World (2013).

He became a "ten million actor" by achieving the highest audience number of 17.61 million for a Korean film with Roaring Currents (2014), and after films like The Tiger (2015), A Special Citizen (2017), and Forbidden Dream (2019), he returns to the screen after three years.

The film In Our Prime, opening on the 9th of next month, tells the story of a North Korean defector genius mathematician who hides his identity and works as a high school security guard, meeting a student who has given up on math.

Choi Min-sik plays Lee Hak-sung, a night security guard at a top 1% private high school, who is cold and blunt, strictly enforcing school rules and thus avoided by students. Contrary to his bleak current appearance, he is a world-class genius mathematician who defected from North Korea, yearning for academic freedom more than anyone else. Living isolated from the world, hiding both his identity and past, he encounters Han Ji-woo (played by Kim Dong-hwi), which becomes a turning point in his life.

On this day, Choi Min-sik said, "I acted without consciously thinking about the North Korean defector setting. I excluded ideological and political contexts," emphasizing, "I focused on the hardship and trials of living a life without being able to do what you want your whole life. I thought it would be even more so for someone with genius abilities."

Regarding In Our Prime, he said, "It is not a movie about math. It is a warm story about connections made through math spreading out into the world. I put in a humble wish that it would be a comfort in these difficult and tiring times."

Photo by Showbox

Director Park Dong-hoon, who took the helm, said the reason for casting Choi Min-sik was, "As a fan and audience member, I wanted to work together because I remember even the short scene of him organizing milk cartons in the film Happy End."

Listening attentively, Choi Min-sik expressed familiarity, saying, "When I first met the director, I felt a familiar impression as if I had seen him somewhere before. His face reminded me of Tetsuro from Galaxy Express 999, which felt familiar."

Director Park Dong-hoon, who won the Best Short Film Award at the 5th Korea Film Awards for War Film and the Screenplay Award at the 54th Asia Pacific Film Festival for Enlightenment Film, is challenging his first feature commercial film with In Our Prime.

Park shared the background of the concept, saying, "When I received the scenario, I got the impression of a polite story. I naturally thought of a scene where adults around a child who failed to achieve a goal do not scold but instead prepare snacks and respectfully listen to the child until the end. That uprightness suddenly came to mind."

The role of Han Ji-woo, a student who persistently asks Lee Hak-sung, the night security guard, to teach him advanced math after realizing he is a math genius, was given to rookie Kim Dong-hwi, who was selected from a competition with a 250 to 1 ratio.

He said, "I was very nervous because senior actor Choi Min-sik was also at the audition. I only thought about showing my humble acting. I was chosen and got to work together," he said.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.