(Korean Movie) Men of Plastic, 2022

[ ABOUT MOVIE ]

K-Crime Action Franchise <Crime City> Producers X Ma Dong-seok unite again!
The undisputed protagonists of Korean films return this time with Beauty.T.C.!

Korea's most successful crime action franchise <Crime City> series production team and Ma Dong-seok once again join hands to splendidly decorate the theater district in the winter of 2022. <Criminal City>, which mobilized 6.88 million viewers in 2017 with the exhilarating action of monster detective 'Maseok-do' and homicide detectives in Geumcheon-seo, captivated 12.69 million viewers with the sequel <Crime City 2>, which expanded the stage to Vietnam in May 2022. It was the highest-grossing film since the pandemic. 'Ma Dong-seok' action, which blows away the audience's stress by overpowering criminals with a single punch, and the popular sense of the production team who know how to explode synergy by linking actors and characters together, together with the audience's explosive response, stagnant theater district energized the

The production team and actor Ma Dong-seok, who maximize the advantages of genre entertainment films, move the stage to a colorful and pleasant space called Apgujeong. Instead of a lively action shot, it heralds a strongly upgraded appearance with pleasant words and exciting box office chemistry. Director Lim Jin-soon, who is one of the directors who knows Ma Dong-seok's charm best, said, "Since there is a clear understanding of the strengths of actor Ma Dong-seok and director Im Jin-soon, both during the planning process and on the set, we can work together without speaking. relationship,” revealing a strong trust in each other that has accumulated together from the planning stage.

The meeting between the production team and the actors who upgraded the stage from a crime city full of action catharsis to the beauty city decorated with beauty and joy <Apkujeong> makes us look forward to another syndrome at the theater at the end of 2022.

Laughter X Chemistry X 'Marvely'-type comedy that gives a powerful shot of words
The MCU syndrome continues!

<Apkkoojeong> is a comedy genre work in the new worldview of the MCU (Ma Dong-seok Cinematic Universe) led by actor Ma Dong-seok. If in the MCU action worldview there was a 'spicy K-slapping' where the 'bad guy' must pay the price, then in the MCU comedy worldview there are characters full of personality including 'Marvely', and the stress of the audience will be blown away in one shot. Laughter and chemistry await. Ma Dong-seok, who played the monster detective 'Maseok-do' in the <Criminal City> series, transformed 180 degrees from head to toe as a 'powerhouse' native to Apgujeong with a business idea springing up in 'Apkkoojeong' and a natural 'horse'. make an appearance Not only Ma Dong-seok, but also other characters are newly revealed in this worldview. In a special place called Apgujeong-dong, the characters who pursue the 'Apgujeong K-beauty dream' with their skills, wealth, personal connections, and wit will be responsible for the movie's tone and chemistry.

Big Punch Pictures, the core of the MCU that directly planned and produced the <Criminal City> series, directly participated in the planning and production of <Apkujeong>, adding a three-dimensional effect to the characters and completing an expanded worldview. Ma Dong-seok said, “I got a lot of ideas for the character from the people around me who don’t have jobs while wearing luxury clothes, driving a nice car, drinking coffee, and making calls all day long.” If there were powerful action scenes in <The City>, <Apkkoojeong> has a lot of lines and comedic elements that make use of the tone,” foreshadowing fun differentiated from previous works.

The MCU comedy worldview, completed with the strong chemistry of various characters, including 'Gangdaeguk', a character who wears clothes that best fit the modifier 'Marvely', representing Ma Dong-seok's anti-war charm, can be confirmed in <Apkkoojeong> in November.

Jung Kyung-ho X Oh Na-ra X Choi Byung-mo X Oh Yeon-seo
Armed with joy, their nutrient tonic chemistry!

In the delightful comedy <Apkkoojeong> in the theater district in November, Jung Kyung-ho, Oh Na-ra, Choi Byung-mo, and Oh Yeon-seo are responsible for the delightful laughter in the behind-the-scenes story of K-beauty. The K-beauty myth, which is completed together by characters armed with outstanding skills, information, capital and personal connections, and their respective special abilities, is a viewing point unique to <Apkujeong>.

First, actor Jung Kyung-ho, who has built up solid filmography through dramas [Prison Playbook] and [Hospital Playlist], is a talented plastic surgeon who will share the beginning of K-beauty with 'Gangdaeguk', a native of Apgujeong, who is alive with an idea. Park Ji-woo' is playing the character. Jung Kyung-ho recalled the time when he was offered the role of 'Park Ji-woo', a sharp and prickly plastic surgeon, and said, "I really wanted to challenge this role after seeing an unpretentious and fun scenario." Oh Na-ra, an actress who brings joy to viewers with her bright energy, plays the role of Oh Mi-jung, the head of an in-house plastic surgery counselor who boasts extraordinary intelligence. Oh Na-ra, who said of her character, “I felt a great charm as a person like a rugby ball who doesn’t know where to go,” completed the delightful character Mi-jeong, who wanders around Apgujeong with her unique free acting. Here, actor Choi Byung-mo takes on the role of 'Cho Tae-cheon', a big hand in Apgujeong with capital, and shows off chemistry like 'Gangdae-guk' and 'Tom and Jerry', and Oh Yeon-seo plays the role of 'Hong Gyu-ok' with excellent personal connections, adding tension to the play and increasing immersion. double the

Director Lim Jin-soon, who described their delightful synergy as 'nutritional chemistry,' said, "Because it is most important for actors to embody a character that suits their acting style, I adjusted the breathing and rhythm of the lines according to the actor. The situation was left open so that the actors could make full use of all their senses with a comfortable mind, and the actors showed their abilities to the fullest on set.”

From birth to heyday
of those who dream of becoming a landmark in Apgujeong, the beauty city of Korea.
Behind the scenes of K-beauty business

<Apkujeong> unravels the hidden story behind the splendor of the K-beauty business that started in Apgujeong-dong, a symbolic place representing Korea's wealth. Director Lim Jin-soon, who was interested in the start of the large-scale plastic surgery industry concentrated and developed around Apgujeong-dong, wondered, 'Why did K-beauty develop around Apgujeong, and who are the people who started it?' said that it was the starting point of In particular, regarding ‘Gangdae-guk’, the central character in the movie played by Ma Dong-seok, “I don’t know what his job is, but he is always busy walking around the neighborhood, and everyone who passes by knows him. Even if it wasn't a town called Apgujeong, there was always someone with the same great country,” said a native of Apgujeong, revealing the background of the birth of the 'Gangdaeguk' character.

In fact, in the early 2000s, when interest in appearance and style was hotter than ever, the streets of Apgujeong were filled with the enthusiasm of young people who showed off their beauty through fashion and appearance, and plastic surgery clinics began to appear on the streets day by day. After the period of word-of-mouth success, corporate hospitals with professional marketing emerged, and talented doctors became stars, and their success stories were featured on TV and news every day. The beauty business, which has grown into an industrial group and has grown in earnest, has made the Apgujeong-dong area the 'beauty city' that represents Korea, and even created a tourism effect that drives foreign tourists to flock to Apgujeong-dong, the Mecca of plastic surgery and beauty.

<Apkkoojeong> pays attention to various episodes of the birth process of ideas that we have not seen before, business partners who have joined hands with capital, and characters dreaming of greater success among them. 'Kang Dae-guk', a native of Apgujeong who believes that he has a 'killing idea', meets 'Park Ji-woo', a once-prominent top plastic surgeon, recognizes his greed and potential at a glance, and instinctively feels that the time has come to demonstrate his once-in-a-lifetime business skills. By bringing together the momentum of a 'powerful country', the skills of 'Park Ji-woo', the intelligence power of 'Oh Mi-jeong', the capital power of 'Cho Tae-cheon', and the personal connections of 'Hong Kyu-ok', they dream of becoming Asia's representative beauty city beyond plastic surgery. Whether their K-beauty business, which is being attempted for the first time in Korea, can stand tall like the Apgujeong landmark building, <Apkujeong> keeps the audience immersed until the end.

[ PRODUCTION NOTE ]

More than 80% shooting in real Apgujeong!
From Rodeo Street to Apgujeong Landmarks Resurrected

The movie <Apkujeong>, which started with the setting of Apgujeong-dong as the beginning of K-beauty, was filmed more than 80% of the actual movie in the Apgujeong area. The production team tried to visually convey the special atmosphere of Apgujeong-dong at the time in order to capture the desires of young men and women who boast of the latest fashion styles and characters who are entangled in wealth and beauty. In particular, even before filming, director Lim Jin-soon was convinced that the scene in which Apgujeong native 'Gang Dae-guk' and plastic surgeon 'Park Ji-woo' run into each other on the street and walk together must be filmed on Rodeo Street, which represents Apgujeong-dong. It is because I couldn't think of another place to express the desire and potential of the two characters who became one with the dream of building a landmark building in Apgujeong. In addition, iconic buildings such as clothing shopping malls and theaters, which were landmark buildings at the time, were revived through CG, and scenes of the streets crossing Hakdong Intersection and Apgujeong Rodeo Station were captured.

The main actors, including Ma Dong-seok, spent most of the filming period wearing the fashion and emotions of the characters in the movie, walking around Apgujeong-dong to complete the movie. They did not hide their romance and memories of the symbolic space called Apgujeong. Jeong Gyeong-ho said, “Apgujeong is a place where I had a romance about going to eat or drink coffee with my friends in high school.” I sympathized with the special meaning of the space.

Like this, the empathy melted by the actors and the enthusiasm of the production team met and recreated the appearance of Apgujeong, a city of beauty, that still greets the audience with its splendid and dazzling appearance throughout the film. Despite the changes of the times, Apgujeong, which is represented as a 'cool' and 'hip' space along with Itaewon, Seongsu-dong, Yeonnam-dong, Euljiro, and Garosu-gil, will capture the eyes and ears of moviegoers.

'Marvely' and the actors who decorated the most splendidly in film history
More than 100 main character costumes alone! Even character-customized personal colors!

One of the biggest concerns of the production team of <Apkujeong> was how to express the costumes of the characters appearing in Apgujeong-dong, the center of fashion. This is because fashion was an inseparable element from the spatial background of Apgujeong, and it was necessary to express unique characters with aspirations for the K-beauty business through fashion. Costume director Nam Ji-soo, who took charge of the costumes in the MCU worldview, such as the <Crime City> series, and breathed life into the characters, set the basic concept to be the luxury and splendor of Beauty City, including the vivid colors that represented Apgujeong fashion at the time. Director Lim Jin-soon said, "I don't usually use primary colors in movies, but I used a lot of bold primary colors to express the pleasant tone and manners of the movie and the trendy neighborhood."

Based on this, the production team prepared more than 100 costumes for the main characters in <Apkujeong>. First of all, more than 50 custom silk shirts were produced for actor Ma Dong-seok, who played the character of 'Gangdae-guk', a native of Apgujeong, with a springing idea. In order to highlight the character of 'Marvely' with an anti-war charm while revealing a splendor suitable for Apgujeong, they added individuality from hair color to hat, luxury watch, and glasses. Ma Dong-seok said, “Among the films I appeared in, it was the film in which I changed my clothes the most since [Goodbye Single],” raising expectations for a splendid appearance that was not seen in previous works. In addition, to complete the character of 'Park Ji-woo', a top-notch plastic surgeon played by Jung Kyung-ho, more than 20 outfits from luxury brands and brands that were in vogue at the time were used. Likewise, Oh Na-ra as 'Oh Mi-jeong', the head of an in-house plastic surgery clinic, Choi Byung-mo as Jo Tae-cheon, a big-ticket businessman, and Oh Yeon-seo as Hong Gyu-ok, the director of a VIP-only aesthetic shop. It was decorated with more than 50 costumes, including stylish suits and luxurious silk dresses.

In addition, to express each character three-dimensionally, we used customized personal colors to find a color that suits the character's tendency and the actor who played the character. Orange and yellow were used as the main colors for 'Gangdaeguk', which suddenly appears anywhere in Apgujeong-dong and changes the atmosphere with a single chat. For the role of 'Oh Mi-jeong', intense red was used to visualize dynamic energy, and for the role of 'Hong Gyu-ok', pure white color was used to add mystery. The delightful appearance of the characters walking around the alleys of Apgujeong, a beauty city, in about 100 costumes reminiscent of a fashion show, will provide another fun to the audience watching <Apkujeong>.

“You know what I mean?”
From addictive lines that melted the actual tone
The shooting scene was full of impromptu ad libs and tikitaka

Even for the veteran actors who participated in dozens of works, including Ma Dong-seok, Jung Kyung-ho, Oh Na-ra, and Choi Byung-mo, the filming site of <Apkkoojeong> was a special time filled with ad-libs and tikitaka that I had never seen before.

Director Lim Jin-soon, in charge of directing, actively utilized the tone and expression that each actor uses in real life in the lines exchanged by the actors to capture a natural comedy. In the field, the autonomy for ad lib was left open and the flow of Tiki-Taka was left open to the actors, creating pleasant scenes. Thanks to this directing, the audience can vividly see the expressions and tone that actors often use in their daily lives in <Apkkoojeong>. One of the most representative lines is “You know what I mean?” Unlike other businessmen with culture or formality, the 'powerful country' that runs business with only natural speech and instinctive business sense says, "You know what I mean?" I ask. The tone of the dialogue is so natural that it is difficult to distinguish whether it is actor Ma Dong-seok or the character 'Gangdae-guk', which makes people burst into laughter in an instant. Jung Kyung-ho, who listened to and followed Ma Dong-seok's lines throughout the filming period, told an interesting anecdote about how he couldn't easily get away from the highly addictive lines, saying, "You know what I mean?"

The actors said in unison, "Going to filming was as fun as going out to play," and did not hide their longing for the filming site, which was full of free energy and warm affection. The scene where 'Gangdaeguk' and 'Park Ji-woo' have a conversation in the sauna, the energetic actions and lines of 'Oh Mi-jeong', and the relationship between 'Gangdaeguk' and 'Cho Tae-cheon', such as in 'Tom and Jerry', are all expressed through the free expression and breathing of the actors. captured vividly. The chemistry and synergy of the actors who were so friendly will be conveyed intact to the audience through the work.