Joo Ji-hoon is aiming for his ‘second consecutive global home run’ with his new work ‘Trauma Center’, which will be released just a month after ‘The Lighting Store’ on Disney+. His new work ‘Trauma Center’, which was produced in collaboration with Netflix after a long time since ‘Kingdom’, will ‘On Air’ on the 24th.

‘Trauma Center’ depicts what happens when Baek Kang-hyuk (Joo Ji-hoon), a genius surgeon who was active on the battlefield, is assigned to resuscitate the ineffective trauma team. Joo Ji-hoon, who was met at Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 23rd, expressed confidence in the fun of the work, saying that it was made with sincerity and hard work, to the point that he “had a 10-hour relay meeting with the production staff and fellow actors”.

O“High synchronization with the original webtoon”

Director Lee Do-yoon, who worked with Joo Ji-hoon for the first time in 10 years since the 2014 film ‘Good Friends’, wittily explained the high synchronization rate between the character in the original webtoon and Joo Ji-hoon, saying, “He has a tall stature, a handsome face, and above all, he is honest and unlucky”. Joo Ji-hoon laughed at this playful evaluation from his close friend, saying, “Being honest and being rude are different”.

“I tend to speak directly and not beat around the bush. Korea has a vertical culture, so a story that could have been over in 5 minutes takes an hour to tell, but I think that at work, everyone should take off their ranks and share their opinions honestly. But some people find that aspect of me offensive.”

In the original webtoon, Baek Kang-hyeok was based on Professor Lee Guk-jong, the country’s leading authority on severe trauma, but Joo Ji-hoon revealed that he did not act with Professor Lee’s appearance in mind.

“Our work is not a documentary-style drama, but an action film with a fantasy twist, so I did not reference or be conscious of Professor Lee’s every single aspect. However, while watching this teacher‘s documentary, the teacher’s dedicated heart of doing anything for the patient indirectly helped me express this character.”
O“Medical drama returning after 12 years”

He appeared in a medical drama for the first time in 12 years since MBC‘s ‘Medical Top Team’ in 2013. When asked how it felt to wear a doctor’s gown after 12 years, he laughed and said, “I‘ve gained over 10kg since then, so the gown was too small.” And then, he made people laugh by ‘self-dissing’ about ‘Medical Top Team’, which did not do well at the box office, saying, “It’s a unicorn drama that clearly exists but no one has seen it.”.

“I didn‘t have any intention of getting revenge (for the poor performance of ‘Medical Top Team’). I’m not that kind of person. It‘s just that I approached it with a serious mind because it’s a work that deals with human lives. Specialists and nurses with outstanding skills and experience were also on set to help.”

Another point to watch in the drama is the bromance between him and Choo Young-woo. Choo Young-woo, who plays Baek Kang-hyeok‘s first disciple Yang Jae-won, also chose Joo Ji-hoon as his role model.””“I’ve never worked to become someone‘s role model, but I’m really grateful whenever my juniors tell me that. Every time my juniors say that, I feel even more proud because they say, ”You‘ve worked hard so far.“ From my juniors’ perspective, I think it seemed good to do various genres, from the youth romance ”Palace“ to playing a serial killer in ”Dark Figure of Crime.“

Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.