[Limelight·Hunt②] We Met to Become a Blank Page

Interview with Jung Woo-sung on the movie 'Hunt'
Watched friend Lee Jung-jae adapt 'Namsan' rights for 4 years
After three refusals, finally worked together... Overcame directing pressure well and is satisfied

"I met you to become a blank sheet. I met you as a blank sheet, and I forgot you like a blank sheet. I lived like a blank sheet to forget you. (Omitted) The blank sheet provokes. The beast of the blank sheet asleep like a blank sheet. It holds all the growling sounds and even the sounds that only send out glances while growling. The blank sheet holds sounds that cannot be contained unless it is a blank sheet, so it becomes so chaotic and noisy, and gathering all that, the blank sheet closes its mouth. There is a blank sheet as if no sound can be heard."

This is from the poetry collection "To the Blank Sheet" by poet Kim Eon. The relationship between actors Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung resembles this. Meeting as youth portraying youth, Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung built a 23-year friendship, and they confess that because they know each other so well, it was difficult to meet again in a project. Kim Eon’s circular reasoning, close to a fallacy?"I met you to become a blank sheet, and I lived like a blank sheet to forget you"?reflects the fate of the two like d?j? vu.

The burden was as significant as the time it took for the two to appear together on screen through the film "Hunt." Jung Woo-sung said, "There was a burden on our work as much as the years that have passed were felt." He confessed, "The essential fun of the movie, the completeness of acting as actors embodying characters?none of these could be neglected or overlooked, so I felt a strong desire to do better."

Jung Woo-sung closely observed director Lee Jung-jae, who bought the original screenplay rights ("Namsan"), adapted it himself over four years, and eventually decided to direct.

He explained, "When Jung-jae asked how I felt about him directing the work himself, I was worried, thinking, 'Is he trying to open the gates of hell and enter?'" He added, "For that reason, I refused the offer to appear, fearing that Lee Jung-jae would bear too heavy a burden, but in the end, things went this way."

As interest grew in the fact that Jung Woo-sung and Lee Jung-jae joined hands, the burden on the work inevitably increased. Jung Woo-sung, who refused the offer to appear four times out of concern that his friend (Lee Jung-jae) would carry too heavy a load due to high expectations from audiences and the industry, ultimately took the lead role and stayed by his friend’s side on set.

Having previously directed and starred in the film "The Guardians," Jung Woo-sung devoted himself to the work more faithfully than anyone else as a companion who comforts the difficulties and loneliness of a close friend. In the interrogation room scene where Kim Jeong-do (Jung Woo-sung) and Park Pyung-ho (Lee Jung-jae), who stubbornly and persistently pursue their beliefs, face each other, the two converse toward the other person looking at themselves through the mirror, depicted as if speaking to their reflected selves.

"I felt a decalcomania-like feeling in the process where two people trapped in the organization's ideology and their own dilemmas make seemingly similar but different choices to solve the problem."

Jung Woo-sung said he realized that when similar people fight, it is the most frightening. The intensity of these two continues beyond the frame today as actors and filmmakers who pour everything into fulfilling their beliefs.

Throughout nearly half of their lives, the two have shown mutual consideration and insight close to Yeomhwa Sijung (拈華示衆, a Buddhist term meaning "showing the flower to the crowd").

"I thought that even without direct consolation, we would sufficiently feel comfort and be comforted through the atmosphere and mood formed between us." A relationship where messages of comfort can be exchanged based on "atmosphere" and "mood." Is there something invisible that connects them, something that cannot be fully explained by saying they are close? Jung Woo-sung said, "We were able to maintain a long friendship because we accepted and respected each other as we were without expecting anything from one another."

No matter what they did, they never once asked or heard why the other made such choices. The two established themselves as partners who support each other, providing positive stimulation and comfort.

Despite the long friendship and the praise following their joint works, Jung Woo-sung calmly said, "Nothing is guaranteed." It is a message imbued with philosophical reflection. The meaning is contained in the additional explanation Jung Woo-sung gave.

"Nothing is guaranteed. Praise, success, and failure are not guaranteed. Because I think I have nothing, I was able to continue new challenges, and the better the response to this work, the more humble I think I should be. Through this work, when I greet many filmmakers, I wanted to convey that I have lived a life as a filmmaker not ashamed to be a junior."

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