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| Actor Joo Won in a scene from the film, "Carter" / Courtesy of Netflix |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Actor Joo Won has gone through an extreme transformation to portray his character in intense action film "Carter." The 35-year-old actor gained 7 kilograms, shaved his head and went through a four months of watching his diet and training to prepare for his challenging role.
"It was a difficult but exciting ride. Carter's role was unlike any of my previous characters. I've done plenty of action in TV dramas like 'Bridal Mask' and 'Alice,' but they cannot be compared to 'Carter,'" he said during a press conference for the Netflix film at a hotel in Seoul, Tuesday.
Directed by Jung Byung-gil, "Carter" follows the story of Carter (Joo), an agent who wakes up with no memory, but is told through a concealed earpiece that he needs to take a child named Jang Ha-na to North Korea amid a viral apocalypse. Realizing that the child is a cure for the deadly virus, Carter sets off a risky mission to rescue the child.
Jung, best known for 2017's "The Villainess," said he wrote the first draft of the script 10 years ago but only finished writing it two years ago.
"After completing the script, I showed it to a group of directors, including Chad Stahelski of the 'John Wick' series. They said I had a strong script, which was encouraging," he said.
The director, who has shot some of exciting, intense action sequences in his previous films, lauded Joo's capability for all-round action. "He is the greatest action star in Korea," he said.
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| Actor Joo Won, right, and director Jung Byung-gil pose during a press conference for the film, "Carter," at JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Netflix |
The hardest scenes to film were the skydiving scene and the helicopter scene. "We pulled off action sequences with minimal CGI. I guarantee that the film contains one of the most thrilling action sequences you've ever seen," the director said.
Jung said he wanted to show the muscular side of Joo in the film. "I wanted to distance Joo from the handsome guy image of his younger days and give him a stoic action hero image instead," he said. His next project will be his first one in Hollywood, action adventure film "Afterburn" starring Gerard Butler.
Joo said Carter was a difficult role, but that's what made it attractive. "I wanted the role so badly. When I read the script for this film, I wondered how the director will make the story happen within a two-hour film. That really aroused my curiosity and my sense of wanting to challenge myself," he said.
The actor highlighted that nearly all scenes were done by himself instead of a stunt double.
"Because the action scenes were extremely dangerous and unpredictable, they required so much focus. I relied heavily on the martial arts team," he pointed out. "For each death-defying scene, we rehearsed about 10 times before actually filming. Fortunately, we had no terrible incidents."
Joo, whose real name is Moon Jun-won, debuted in the 2007 musical, "Altar Boyz," and rose to fame after appearing on the 2010 KBS TV series, "King of Baking, Kim Takgu."
"Carter" will be available to stream on Netflix from Aug. 5.
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