Actor Kang Dong-won is targeting global success with the Netflix film ‘The Ran, which will be simultaneously released in 190 countries around the world on the 11th. Attention is focused on whether he will be able to escape the shackles of poor box office performances through his first OTT (online video service) leading role, ‘The Ran,’, which has been garnering favorable reviews even before its release.

‘Golden Slumber’, ‘Inrang’, ‘Broker’, ‘Dr. Cheon‘s Exorcism Lab: The Secret of Cheon-gyeong’, ‘The Designer’, Kang Dong-won’s leading roles in theaters since 2018 have failed to break even and have not been very successful at the box office.

Although ‘Peninsula’, which was released in 2020, did well despite the COVID-19 situation, attracting 3.81 million viewers, it is a disappointing result compared to ‘Train to Busan’, which shares the same worldview as ‘Peninsula’, which surpassed 10 million viewers.

‘The Ran’, which will rebuild Kang Dong-won‘s shattered pride, is a historical action blockbuster that depicts the story of the son of the best military family in the Joseon Dynasty (Park Jung-min) and his servant (Kang Dong-won) who become enemies and meet again after the Japanese invasion.

Above all, the movie attracted international attention early on because director Park Chan-wook of ‘Decision to Leave’, ‘The Handmaiden’, and ‘Oldboy’ was in charge of the screenplay and production. After its first screening as the opening film of the 29th Busan International Film Festival on the 2nd, it has already received favorable reviews befitting its ‘anticipated title’, and the film is already showing signs of success.

Kang Dong-won, who chose a historical drama for the first time in 10 years since ‘Kundo: Age of the Rampant’ (Kundo) in 2014, looked back on the script written by director Park Chan-wook and said, ‘It felt unusual’ at the time, at the production conference held at the JW Marriott Dongdaemun in Seoul on the 10th, “It was different from existing movie scripts. Usually, movies focus on the main character to reveal the characters due to the running time, but in the script for ‘The War of Tensions’, each and every character’s story was melted into it. He also explained, “It was a scenario that gave a modern feel while being a traditional historical drama.”
Kang Dong-won, who showed off his signature beautiful appearance in ‘Gundo’ as a nobleman from the most powerful family in Joseon, plays the character of a slave with the lowest status in his filmography in this film.
He showed a big change in his appearance with disheveled hair, a messy face, and a rough beard, and he laughed, saying, “I was personally glad to be offered the role of a slave. Actually, I‘m a person who is more uncomfortable playing a nobleman, so I was confident that I could act as a slave well.”

He played a character with the temperament of a ’genius swordsman‘ who can immediately imitate other people’s swordsmanship, and he also performed various high-difficulty swordsmanship actions ranging from the sword of a Joseon military official to a Japanese sword. He introduced the film as his “third film with a sword,” following “Detective Duelist” and “Kundo” in 2005, and said, “While filming “Detective Duelist,” I practiced swordsmanship with director Lee Myung-se for eight long months, practically living together. That experience still helps me a lot.”


Reporter Lee Seung-mi smlee@donga.com