‘Harbin’ Director Woo Min-ho “Citizens fighting against martial law army, independence fighters overlap, making me sad”[Interview]
Director Woo Min-ho, photo courtesy of CJ ENM
Director Woo, who captured the journey of independence activists and Ahn Jung-geun to Harbin for the October 26, 1909 uprising, took the megaphone for this massive project with a production cost of 30 billion won with the sole purpose of “capturing their journey in a sublime way.” He cast Hyun Bin as Ahn Jung-geun, the independence activist most respected by the Korean people. “I saw the sorrowful look of Ahn Jung-geun in Hyun Bin‘s eyes,“ said Director Woo. Hyun Bin emphasized, ”It was an honor for me to appear in this work.“ ○“The nobility that I wanted to capture even if it meant sacrificing the pleasure of an entertainment film”
Director Woo Min-ho had once declined an offer from production company Hivecorp to direct a film about Ahn Jung-geun’s righteous deed. This was because he lacked the confidence to properly portray “a great man who devoted himself to his country”as a film. However, reading Ahn Jung-geun‘s autobiography by chance later changed his mind.
“I thought Ahn Jung-geun was just a hero. But he wasn’t. He was a defeated general who suffered a painful defeat in the Battle of Sin-a Mountain, where he personally led 300 righteous armies. I was curious about how he was able to succeed in the Harbin incident and what his feelings were like at that time. ‘Until that day, we must not give up and move forward” His words deeply touched my heart.”
Still from the movie ‘Harbin’, photo courtesy of CJ ENM
“It can be risky (in terms of box office success) for a blockbuster movie that required a large production budget to make this kind of choice. But not all movies do well just because they follow the box office formula. I believe that the audience will understand the sincerity in this film.”
In accordance with that belief, the battle scene of Mt. Sin-A, where the independence fighters and the Japanese army fiercely fought, was filmed with an emphasis on the “ferocity of the battlefield” rather than the “pleasure of the action scene”.
“At first, the action director came up with a battle scene with a strong sense of action pleasure. But I suggested that we change everything. We filmed the battle scene in Gwangju, and it was snowing heavily for the first time in 50 years. The scenery was really beautiful. When I thought about how such a beautiful country had been trampled so much (by the Japanese), I couldn‘t film an action scene full of pleasure.”
Lily Franky as Hirobumi Ito in the movie ‘Harbin’, Photo courtesy of CJ ENM
”She’s an actress I really like, so when I made the offer, I thought she‘d naturally reject it, and I thought, ’Well, whatever.‘ But she readily agreed to it, so I was surprised. She really enjoyed my previous works, ’The Man Standing Next‘ and ’Inside Men,‘ and she liked this scenario too. And she also understood Korean history so well.“
Director Woo couldn’t hide his choking up while talking about the film at a press conference the day before. This is because, along with his gratitude for Ahn Jung-geun and other independence activists, the current chaotic situation has made his heart waver even more.
”While filming this film, I felt grateful to all the independence fighters who made us who we are today, but at the same time, I felt guilty. But when I saw the news recently and saw citizens blocking the martial law army with their whole bodies, I thought of the independence fighters. That made me even more emotional.”
Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com
