Actor So Ji-sub (47) made a successful return through the noir action film 'The Square' after 13 years.
Released on the 6th, the Netflix series 'The Square' follows Ki-jun (played by So Ji-sub), who cuts off his Achilles' heel and leaves the world of 'The Square', returning after 11 years due to the death of his brother Gi-seok (played by Lee Joon-hyuk), to uncover the truth behind the revenge.
So Ji-sub's first OTT project, 'The Square', recorded 4.9 million views (calculated by dividing viewing time by runtime) within three days of its release. It ranked in the Netflix TOP 10 list in 44 countries worldwide, including South Korea, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Kenya, Chile, and Indonesia, and achieved 2nd place in the global TOP 10 series (non-English) category, performing well.
When asked about the popularity during an interview held on the 12th in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, So Ji-sub said, "This is my first OTT project, so I don't know exactly what the actual response is. When I do dramas, I get feedback every week, but since 'The Square' has already been fully released, I wonder if people are watching it. I don't really feel it."
When asked why he chose 'The Square', So Ji-sub replied, "Personally, I like noir. The energy that comes from physical confrontation is really good. It seems like many noir scripts are coming out, but they are really rare. In terms of works, only 1 or 2 come out a year. So I was really grateful when 'The Square' came to me."
Since it was his long-awaited return to action, there were concerns. He said, "I'm getting older, so I was a bit worried about my joints. Fortunately, I finished filming without getting injured," and honestly confessed, "Unlike when I used to shoot action films, my mind is doing the movements, but my body is half a beat slower."
So Ji-sub performed about 70-80% of the action scenes in 'The Square', with the remaining parts done by stunt doubles. He stated, "Just because I want to do it doesn't mean I can do everything. It was important that it looked good on screen." When asked which parts were done by a double, So Ji-sub humorously replied, "That's a secret."
He pointed to a multi-person action scene in episode 4 as the one he put the most effort into.
“I think it was the most physically and mentally challenging action scene I've done so far. We filmed it for just under a week, and I was worried about someone getting hurt. In a moment of carelessness, someone could get injured, so I was most concerned about that before filming.”
When immersed in the script, he was asked who he wanted to eliminate first. So Ji-sub said, "Up to episode 4, it was definitely Gu Jun-mo (played by Gong Myung)."
“After killing Jun-mo, you realize there’s something else. At that point, Gi-seok's goal isn't to kill someone, but to find the answer that 'this world is an unbreakable structure.' I felt that I had to do everything I could, and that I had to die for it to end. So I think I chose the path of death in the end.”
In 'The Square', Nam Ki-jun goes through many people to carry out his revenge. When asked which actor he felt was the most threatening, So Ji-sub replied, “It was when I was with Kim Tae-in, who is a real fighter. The energy and the physical contact itself were tough.”
So Ji-sub married announcer Jo Eun-jung (31), who is 17 years younger, in 2020. When asked if his wife was worried about the action scenes, he said, “I didn’t tell her what I was filming. I don’t usually talk much about my work. After watching 'The Square', she said, 'It must have been tough.' I think she saw me struggling first.” (Continued in Interview ②)
[Kim Mi-ji, Star Today Reporter]
