The following group interview took place at the Odeon Leicester Square cinema, London, on 23 October 2015 prior to the 'London East Asia Film Festival 2015' screening of 'Veteran' and Q&A with director Ryoo Seung-wan.
(Interviewers: Hangul Celluloid, easternKicks and Mike Fury)

Interview:

easternKicks (Andrew): Where did your inspiration for the story of ‘Veteran’ come from?

Ryoo Seung-wan: The two most recent films I made prior to ‘Veteran’ were very dark and the main characters always lost. So, I wanted to make a movie where the main character actually wins for the first time. I wanted to recreate those heroes that I grew up watching in films, it’s really hard to watch those characters always lose. I was inspired by real-life events relating to very rich people who are heirs to big conglomerates and I wanted the audience to feel that they were ultimately in charge. I wanted to imagine the lead character coming to life on behalf of the audience.


Mike Fury: What did you feel was different about the subject of ‘Veteran’ from your previous work and what did you hope to do differently this time?

Ryoo Seung-wan: In the past, I was always influences by emotions I felt in real life and it has always been really difficult to escape from that. In reality, it is also incredibly difficult to win against those who are rich and powerful and I was really influenced by that fact. This time round, I wanted to change that so I focused on the imaginary hero winning against these powerful and corrupt individuals. Since I was focused on that within a fictional movie plot, rather than telling a factual story, I felt freer than I have in the past. So, the story is based on real facts but with a twist.


Hangul Celluloid: Considering the huge popularity of ‘Veteran’ and the fact that it has far more humorous elements than your previous work, do you see that as proof that Korean film audiences are looking for something different with a more light-hearted edge than in the days of ‘No Blood, No Tears’ and ‘City of Violence’? Do you feel the wants and needs of Korean audiences have changed over the years and are you consciously aware of that change when making a new film?

Ryoo Seung-wan: Korean film audiences really do prefer light-hearted movies that they can enjoy with their popcorn. The success of ‘Veteran’ is of course partly due to that but I think it’s more to do with the fact that I touched on something that audiences want to see happen but cannot do in reality. I think they almost felt joy at seeing something they would never see in real life. I can’t actually put my finger on what has changed for Korean film audiences that resulted in ‘Veteran’ being so successful, but I think I touched a new level in terms of my relationship with audiences. I found it especially interesting to see teenage audiences really liking ‘Veteran’. I didn’t expect that at all. Obviously, I can’t say definitively how or why they liked it so much since they are so young and I cannot remember what my thoughts were when I was their age.
But as I say that, I want to point out that it wasn’t just teenagers who like the film, somehow I was able to touch people of all ages in certain ways, but those ways may have been different for different age groups. The screening of ‘Veteran’ in Toronto was the first time I was able to see international audience reactions to the film, and it has been said in the past that reactions of younger Korean audiences are similar to those of international viewers. So, I’m really hopeful that foreign audiences will also love my film.


easternKicks (Andrew): Your two lead stars have ended up being in two of the most popular Korean films this year, in terms of box office. Was that deliberate or accidental on your part? How did you come to cast Hwang Jung-min and Yoo Ah-in in ‘Veteran’?

Ryoo Seung-wan: Hwang Jung-min and I worked together on ‘The Unjust’ and we had a really good working relationship and when I was writing ‘Veteran’ I actually had him in mind. When Hwang Jung-min saw the script for the first ties, he actually knew that the main character role was written for him – It was so obvious that the character dialogue, the character actions, they were just ‘him’. Also, the character was influenced by Hwang-Jung-min himself. In real life, Hwang Jung-min believes justice is vitally important and he likes to help others, so he really was perfect to play the good cop. Yoo Ah-in was already famous before he joined my movie but he was particularly known for his ‘bold moves’ and opinions. On social media etc, he is known to often make very bold and even political comments. However, he wasn’t the first person I had in mind for the role of the villain in ‘Veteran’ but young actors often avoid roles like this because they might get hurt. So, I had trouble casting the role. I understand that playing these villain characters is hard and many actors avoid such roles because they have to ensure that they protect their commercial image. I met Yoo Ah-in at the Busan International Film Festival, in a social capacity, and he seemed very interested when I told him about the film. He asked to see the script and I was so worried that he’d reject it that I changed it to add explanations of why the character was ‘bad’. Yoo Ah-in called me a couple of days later and said he’d really enjoyed reading it but he wanted to know why so much explanation of his character was necessary. He was actually the one who said “Why can’t the character just be evil, without explanation?” I was really grateful for that. Also, no-one in the cast or production team thought this movie would be so successful but one thing I found out is that most directors automatically think my films are going to be huge. However, it never goes the way you want. So, the way I see it I’m just going to make the films I want to make. I believe and hope that if I put my heart into it then one day people will realise the true worth of my films, even if that is in the very, very far future with audiences millions of miles away.


easternKicks (James): With ‘Veteran’ being so successful, I believe there is a sequel being planned. What fresh areas will you take the film and story after this?

Ryoo Seung-wan: The cast and the production team really enjoyed making ‘Veteran’ and I just loved the characters. So, everyone agreed that if the film ended up being really successful we would endeavour to make a sequel. However, before the movie came out we were very careful not to mention that publicly because if the film wasn’t a success we’d end up making fools of ourselves. We thought “Just in case, let’s not kill the characters”. Thankfully, of course, the movie has been a huge success, so every time I meet the cast all we talk about is when we’ll make the next one and, yes, we have now decided to definitely make a sequel. What we hope is that it won’t just end with the second one, but will continue even after that. What I hope is that the lead character will develop and go through a series of events and end up one day as the centre of the story – not just the main cop – and will have the power to stand against the real evil. In order for that to happen, we need to really do our homework to make the sequels really, really good.


Mike Fury: One aspect of ‘Veteran’ that was very highly praised was the action, and indeed the fight sequences. What was the process of collaborating with the choreographers and the stunt team to really bring this to life?

Ryoo Seung-wan: I have worked with the choreographer of ‘Veteran’ many times over many years. When we’re off set, we get on really well but when we’re on set we just hate each other. He regularly tells people that I nag him and that I’m really difficult but actually it’s the other way round. Because I really trust him and his team, I just give him an idea of what I want and after that I’m just like a teacher who checks pupils’ homework. He comes back to me with his own interpretation and I’ll just laugh, and then every time I see him I say “Do it again… do it again”. That goes on for absolutely ages until there’s nothing left for us to discuss or disagree about and that how we end up with such great stunts. What I asked for this time, in particular, was really realistic action sequences and I wanted the audience to really feel the pain of the characters. In fact, there was actually a moment when one of the stuntmen almost died. There is a scene where a motorcycle and a car crash head-on and before we shot it we went to see the location but when I said I wanted the crash to be head-on, the stunt choreographer said “no”, it was the first time he has ever refused one of my requests. I said I’d seen such scenes in international films so why not in a Korean movie? He asked me if those scenes in foreign movies had been on level ground and said that as we were shooting on a hill there was a possibility of the motorcycle stuntman going under the car. However, the location was so visually perfect I really didn’t want to change it so we finally decided to shoot with the stuntman on a wire but as he was riding a Harley Davidson, even with a wire it would be really hard to pull him out. When we shot the scene, we pulled the stuntman off the motorcycle with the wire but he hit his jaw on the bike’s glass and if it had been just five centimetres lower he would have been killed. Not only that, but he hit then his head on the car and passed out. His face was so ripped that you could see his teeth through his skin. We took him to hospital and I was there to see him wake up and I can’t forget the first thing he said “Is it OK?” I was really impressed that after what he had gone through he was still thinking about the film. Thankfully, he has fully recovered but I don’t think he’ll ever do another motorcycle stunt.


Hangul Celluloid: Throughout your career, you have regularly been described as “The action kid of Korean cinema”, and in fact even today you have been referred to as such in reviews of your recent work and in film press packs. What were you’re feeling about the use of such a tag in the past and as your recent films have far more depth than simply being ‘action films’, what are your thoughts about that tag at this point?

Ryoo Seung-wan: I actually like the nickname, I think it’s great, and it’s certainly better that “The action old man of Korean cinema” [Ryoo Seung-wan laughs]. The movies that I have loved and been passionate about since I was very young were all action films but I believe even the films of Billy Wilder, for example, all also action films. Film is to me the art of moving pictures so I never say film by someone, I say picture by someone. To me, the pictures, the images of a film are as important as the story itself and even a scene where a man kisses a woman is a really good action scene. A kid holding a dying father is to me an action scene and so I feel the term ‘action’ is relevant to any film-maker and very relevant to my work. Action is a way of creating an emotion through moving pictures and, again for me, action isn’t just a genre, it’s so much more.

On behalf of all of those involved, I would sincerely like to thank the London East Asia Film Festival for arranging this group interview with director Ryoo Seung-wan.