Hey folks, Harry here with news on something that seems like a cool Korean flick. Our scooper - Filmrage seems a tad cynical about the caucasian actor scene in modern Korean cinema... but hell, he would know. Here ya go...
Hi guys,
Here’s a quick report for you on the new Korean
production ‘The Typhoon’. It’s a bit long and involved
an audition I did for a small part.
Anyone who has seen last years ‘Tae Gukki’ will know
that Korea is just as capable of producing big
budgeted war fests as it is exquisite dramas.
Currently in production in Pusan, Thailand and
Russia is ‘The Typhoon’. Hmmm think ‘Face Off’ in the
middle of ‘The battle of Midway’.
Basically the movie (due for Korean release in
December) is the story is of a North Korean (a baddie
called ‘Sin’ who it appears is a ‘pirate’, what ever
that means circa 1952) who defects to the south but is
rejected. He then goes on vindictive rampage and meets
his Nemesis in the form of a (presumably handsome)
navel officer called Se-Jeong Kang.
The background will be hellish naval warfare but the
focus will be on the various duels of ‘Sin’ and
‘Kang’.
‘The Typhoons’ director is Gyeong-Taek Kwak who made
the 2001 hit ‘Chingu’ (Friend). He’s enlisted talent
from both ‘Tae Gukki’ and his own film ‘Friend’ in the
form of Jeong-Jae Lee and Dong-Gun Jang. I’m ashamed
to admit that I’m not sure which was in which movie
even though I reviewed ‘Tae Gukki’ for ‘Aintitcool’
last year.
‘The Typhoon’ is reported to be budgeted at 1.5
Billion won which can’t be right as by my calculations
at 1000 won = 1 US Dollar that makes it 1.5 million
dollars. Must be a typo.
Speaking of the cost of film making in Korea.
American stars would be amused to hear of a recent
controversy here where a famous director insulted two
of his previous stars by declaring that they were
greedy and naming names. The stars then gave a tearful
press conference and declared that they received half
a million dollars for the blockbuster they starred in
and left it the ‘the people’ to decide if they were
greedy or not.
Ok the next part of this report is more personal.
Being a Westerner in Seoul it’s not uncommon to get
approached by some rinky dink agency and asked if you
want to do ‘model’ work. This generally involves
putting on a business suit and holding a briefcase
while being shot on video shaking hands with other
suits for corporate videos. The pay is usually
something like 200 US dollar a day. That day can be 6
hours but can also be 18 hours. I’ve done it twice but
turned down more offers as it’s a bit boring and I
learned that the agency get 800 US dollars from the
production company per day for your services. That
means they keep 600 and pay the ‘model’ 200. 75%
comission is just a little exploitive I think not to
mention insulting.
Well I got a call the other day and was asked if I
wanted to audition for the movie ‘The Typhoon’. I was
told if I got the part I’d be pad 200,000 won (200
USD) a day ‘FOR A SPEAKING PART’. I told him in polite
words to go to hell but later called back as I thought
at least it would be interesting even if I was being
ripped off.
Today I attended the audition. It was basically a
screen test with the assistant director. Even before I
went there I told my friends that it was probably to
play the role of the obligatory evil westerner. Bingo.
Strangely, I wasn’t nervous at all even though I’m
no actor and have never done an audition or any kind
of acting. I also was surprised to find that I had a
talent for memorizing lines and was given five minutes
to memorize a 26 word bit. After a couple of reads of
the script I was read and said so.
I got up in front of the camera without scrip in
hand and gave it my best. My guess is I won’t get the
part as I’m totally not photogenic. Even the evil
Westerner has to have a screen presence.
Maybe ‘The Typhoon’ will be as great as Tae Gukki
but the fact that probably the only scene of the
Korean war with westerners has them leaving thousands
of civilians to drown disturbs me a little seeing as
50,000 Americans died in order to ensure that South
Korea could be the thriving democratic capitalist
powerhouse that it is today. That kind of depiction of
‘Americans’ is even more of a slap considering the
South’s contrast with the North.
On the scripting side, the lines I had to read were
an atrociously bad translation of an obvious Korean
language original.
The following is the scenario, followed by the lines
I read (talk about ‘flogging a dead horse’, in this
case my rotten acting and the awful lines were a case
of me ‘butchering the butchered’.)
SCENE:
The captain of an American Korean war era battleship
slows down and trains the spotlight on a multitude of
Koreans stranded in the sea after their ship is
presumably sunk.
The duplicitous CIA type reaches past the captain
and shuts off the spot light angering the captain.
CAPTAIN: “But they’re refugees”.
CIA MAN: “This is not the normal route; anyway
they’re dead already.
If you stop the vessel without the right order
again, even your safety can’t be guaranteed.”
If I get the part I’ll lobby for a re-write.
Something along the lines of . . . .
CAPATAIN: “They’re refugees, non-combatants for Gods
sake”.
CIA MAN: “They aren’t part of the mission Captain.
Call it in if you must but if you deviate again I’ll
have you relieved of your command.”
Filmerage.
