(Korean Movies) SINKHOLE, 2021

Sa. Sang. Cho. You! 'Sinkhole' disaster to be made into a movie for the first time in Korea
A huge sinkhole in the city center unfolding on the screen this summer

A sinkhole that creates a huge puddle in the city center has emerged as a new disaster that threatens livelihoods around the world. Groundwater is commonly known to be the main cause of sinkholes, which are called 'ground subsidence', but it can also be caused by weakened ground or development projects due to heavy rain during the monsoon season. According to data released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, in Korea, an average of 900 large and small sinkholes occur per year, and an average of 2.6 large and small sinkholes per day, of which 78% occur in Seoul. This means that no one living in a city center can ever be safe from a sinkhole that can happen anytime, anywhere.

<Sinkhole> is the first Korean film adaptation of the sinkhole phenomenon, a global disaster. Director Kim Ji-hoon, who opened a new horizon for Korean disaster films by mobilizing 5.18 million viewers with <Tower>, a movie about a fire that takes place in a 108-story skyscraper, will show the world of a sinkhole 500 meters underground on the screen. Director Kim Ji-hoon said, “It was quite surprising that 900 cases of sinkholes occur a year, which can go out while we are on the road or eating in our ordinary daily life,” said director Kim Ji-hoon. ' And, based on the imagination of 'what kind of event will happen in the depths of the earth where the sinkhole is formed', the disaster buster <Sinkhole> was planned.

The main character, Dongwon, is an ordinary office worker who has worked hard to buy a house in Seoul, and is an ordinary head of reality who succeeded in acquiring his own in 11 years. As the saying goes, 'If it rains on the moving day, you live well'. One day when it rains, you move into Cheongwoon Villa 501. However, the bloated dream of a new home also falls into the ground along with the house in an instant. In addition to Mansu 401, who lives with three jobs for a living, colleague Daeri Kim and intern Eunju Eunju, who are invited to Dongwon's housewarming, also get caught up in an unexpected incident.

Director Kim Ji-hoon showed off his imagination of 'what if a sinkhole happens today and I fall out' and added a cinematic interpretation to it, foretelling a different imagination and sights never seen before in a disaster movie. As such, <Sinkhole> will invite the audience into a sinkhole where various emotions are alive with the scenes of a huge disaster and the characters struggling to escape from it.

Sa. Sang. Cho. You! The most delightful combination to hit the summer theater district!
Cha Seung-won X Kim Seong-gyun X Lee Kwang-soo X Kim Hye-joon's Ensemble of Positives

<Sinkhole>, which tells the story of those who fell 500m underground with the house, but equipped with survival instincts and positive energy, adds to expectations with the pleasant synergy of Cha Seung-won, Kim Seong-gyun, Lee Kwang-soo, and Kim Hye-jun.

Cha Seung-won, the best star in Korea, who plays 200% of his characters across movies, dramas, and entertainment shows, is a professional meddler of the three-job livelihood and resident 401 Man-su, a character that is closely related to life. As director Kim Ji-hoon said, “From the beginning to the end of the movie, Cha Seung-won was a big feature”, he doubles the immersion of the play by presenting him from his charismatic appearance in a disaster situation to his friendly side to take care of his one and only son, and wit in the right place. . Kim Seong-gyun, who is greatly loved for his unforgettable and intense acting in each of his works, came to Seoul from the countryside and took on the role of 'Dong-won', the 501st in reality, who succeeded in self-acquisition after 11 years. Kim Seong-gyun, who said, “I sympathized with the sense of disappointment that comes when my house, which I prepared for the first time in 11 years, disappears in an instant, and when the things I treasure in the house are broken,” Kim Seong-gyun perfectly captures the ironic feelings of the head of a living who has to escape from the difficultly prepared house. , will evoke deep sympathy from the audience.

Here, popular actor Lee Kwang-soo adds vitality by transforming into 'Dae-ri Kim' who fell into a sinkhole without luck after coming to the boss's housewarming. Lee Kwang-soo breathes fun into the character with his clever acting that goes back and forth between resentment and desperation. The director said, “The casting of Lee Kwang-soo is a godsend. He had a very deep approach to the character without sacrificing himself in acting.”

In addition, Kim Hye-joon, a newcomer that Chungmuro is paying attention to, plays the role of 'Eun-ju', a three-month intern full of passion and motivation. He plans to dominate the screen with a character with a reversal charm that is 180 degrees different from the intense appearance he showed in his previous work [Kingdom].

Neighbors who fell underground in an instant, and colleagues Cha Seung-won, Kim Seong-gyun, Lee Kwang-soo, and Kim Hye-jun, who were entangled in the relationship of co-workers, are an acting ensemble boasting the perfect combination of high-level action as well as delightful chemistry.

Sa. Sang. Cho. You! The best crew who completed the spectacle of Disaster Buster
<Tower> Director Kim Ji-hoon X <Myeongryang> <The Terror Live> crew
The most important thing in <Sinkhole> was to realize the super-large disaster itself visually and realistically, while maintaining the dramatic tension in which even a single small stone could change life and death 500m underground. Director Kim Ji-hoon, who delivered a spectacle by depicting the fire accident of a 108-story skyscraper and the struggle of firefighters to extinguish it with his previous work <Tower>, is a Korean disaster film that advanced by guiding the audience into a sinkhole 500m underground through <Sinkhole>. was completed ˝No one would have ever imagined that a house was placed 500 meters underground and a loved one was in that space. So, more imagination was mobilized.” The director's story adds to the curiosity about the first Korean film to be made with a super-large sinkhole in the city. In addition, the disaster buster with a hopeful message was completed by introducing characters who show their survival instincts in the hope of escaping from time and space that everyone can think of as hopeless.

In addition, the VFX director of <Myeongryang> and <The Terror Live> also participated to add credibility to the work. VFX director Seo Kyung-hoon, who created a large set using a 'Gimbal' to create a dynamic action scene of the naval battle in <Myeongnyang>, will show the vivid scene of a very large sinkhole on the screen in <Sinkhole>. VFX Director Seo Kyung-hoon said, 'The scenes of the whole villa falling down made a lot of effort to convey as much realism as possible. The emphasis was placed on delivering various experiences in disasters, such as an underwater space 500 meters below the sinkhole or a space that feels like climbing a mountain.”

The Cheongun Villa and 500m sinkhole, which can be said to be the core of the work, were created by art director Kim Tae-young, who was in charge of the art of <Tower>. Art director Kim Tae-young, who revealed that “Familiar backgrounds, unfamiliar spaces, and sudden disasters that occur in such spaces were used as the overall art concept”, art director Kim Tae-young, began , to the appearance of falling 500m underground, completed a realistic space with changes according to the situation of the disaster. In addition, the Cheongun Villa in the 500m underground sinkhole connects as many sets as possible so that the characters trapped in it can move freely.

As such, the disaster buster <Sinkhole>, completed by the producers of <Tower>, <Myeongryang> and <The Terror Live>, will captivate the audience this summer with its spectacular sights, going from ground to underground.

[ PRODUCTION NOTE ]

Maximize the reality of the ground space!
＃Reply 1988 Team Participation ＃Complete the whole neighborhood ＃Construction of 20 buildings

The production team of the disaster buster <Sinkhole> paid attention from the pre-production stage of the ground set to elicit sympathy from the audience with a realistic disaster situation. Director Kim Ji-hoon said, “The starting point of a movie is a set. The completeness of the set determines the CG quality” and focused on realizing the look of the neighborhood that can be seen around us. From <Glamorous Vacation> to <Tower>, art director Kim Tae-young, who worked with director Kim Ji-hoon for a long time, built a total of 20 buildings including villas and various convenience facilities over about five months to produce a large-scale full set. The set in Jangsu-dong, the main stage of the movie, in which the drama [Reply 1988] set team participated, was completed in such a realistic way that even the actors would mistake it for a real place. Art director Kim Tae-young said, “I wanted to create a familiar space as a background so that people could fully sympathize with a sudden disaster situation” and realistically portrayed the process of changing the most comfortable and cozy space according to a disaster. In addition, 'Dongwon's house, which prepared my house for the first time in 11 years,' has a warm feeling, and 'Mansu''s house, where he and his son live alone, is produced in simple and calm tones, realizing a space where the character is actually living and breathing. And to show the situation immediately before and after the disaster, glossy and matte details were added to the props, and objects that could indirectly feel the shaking of the disaster were used to add realism.

Complete the spectacle of the underground space!
＃Extra-large rock wall and gimbal set ＃Large-scale water tank set

It was also the main task of the production team to complete the underground set in order to depict a realistic disaster situation in a very large sinkhole. In order to show the appearance after the sinkhole occurred, the production team produced a large-scale rock wall set with the appearance of the ground 500m underground. And in order to convey the shaking caused by the collapse of the building as it is, a large-scale production was carried out by building a villa set on top of a gimbal set. In addition, to film the scene where the water fills up due to the rainy season, the Aqua Studio created a water tank set including the roof of the villa to express a vivid disaster situation. In addition, director Seo Kyung-hoon, who participated in VFX work such as <Battle of Yeonpyeong>, <Myeongryang> and <The Terror Live>, joined, and heightened the spectacle of the real disaster. Director Seo Kyung-hoon said, "It's a disaster movie, but I didn't want to give it a dark feel. I wanted to give a different experience in a colorful space that felt like escaping from the jungle or mountain climbing.” The world of <Sinkhole>, completed with the cooperation of the best producers in Chungmuro, will give the audience a different experience as if they were in the center of an actual sinkhole through overwhelming visuals and colorful spectacles.

Maximize the sense of presence in an urgent disaster situation!
＃The actors’ realistic survival action ＃The production team’s fierce efforts

In order to realistically revive the sinkhole disaster that is first realized on the screen, the actors put forth their best efforts, and the production team worked hard to provide a perfect environment for the actors to immerse themselves in. Although filming was carried out with thorough safety devices in place, it was a great challenge for the actors as they had to fight not only on the gimbal set where they could vividly feel the shaking of the ground caused by the sinkhole, but also on the rock set. In order to convey the emotions of the characters going through a disaster as they are, the main actors, including Cha Seung-won, did most of the action scenes, such as the villa sinking scene and taxi crash scene, without a double, drawing admiration from the field staff. To this end, the production team burned their passion by directly creating a heavy mud bog caused by subsidence of the ground, and mobilized large equipment such as cranes and cranes to hang the taxi in the air and shake it directly, maximizing the sense of realism. The lively performances of the actors and the brilliant efforts of the staff will guide the audience to the world of sinkhole disaster that was attempted for the first time.

Synergy of actors Shining even 500m underground!
＃From hot performances to gymnastics, one filming site ＃The best teamwork this summer

For the actors of <Sinkhole>, the harmony between each other was more important than any other movie. In order to relax before filming and maintain strong teamwork, director Kim Ji-hoon started group gymnastics with the actors and staff. In reality, all the main actors agree that they became one through gymnastics at the arduous filming site. Director Kim Ji-hoon, in charge of directing, said, “There is no actor greater than teamwork. This is because they think that no actor can exist alone. Emotions and acting are interactions, and the actors in <Sinkhole> think that interaction and emotional sympathy are well formed. The teamwork matched well, so I was able to shoot comfortably.” He thanked the actors who became stronger in the 500m underground. Cha Seung-won, who played 'Mansu', also said, "It was a work that was able to alleviate the difficulties thanks to the actors who were with me, even though it was a work that in some ways had a lot of pressure because of scenes that had to be filmed with imagination in a situation I had never experienced before." He thanked the actors who worked with him.