Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was delayed and finally met the audience after 6 years. It’s a romance where you become happy when infected, featuring Bae Doona's soft and unique charm in ‘Virus’.
On the morning of the 16th, at the production report conference for the movie ‘Virus’ (directed by Kang Yi-kwan) held at Megabox COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, Bae Doona opened up by saying, “It’s almost a romance after about 10 years.”
She continued, “After the soft film ‘Air Doll’, I mainly worked on disaster and genre films like ‘Kingdom’ and ‘Stranger’. I actually missed romance, soft and warm bright stories,” adding, “I had a vague longing for such films that make the audience feel good and laugh. Then I encountered ‘Virus’.”
She further explained, “Our work is set up so that when infected with the virus, you feel good for no reason, and even negative people become positive. There’s so much energy that you can dance anytime, and there are symptoms of falling in love with someone you like,” and introduced her character, saying, “The original nature of ‘Taek-seon’ is quite negative, but it changes drastically after infection. He majored in Korean literature and wanted to write novels, but since it didn’t go well, he lives as a translator, feeling depressed because he hasn’t achieved anything by his standards. Then he changes.”
She added, “When I fall in love, I also change positively like Taek-seon and feel good,” and remarked, “I think there’s a resemblance between Taek-seon’s appearance before and after being infected.”
‘Virus’ tells the story of Taek-seon (Bae Doona), who is infected with a 100% fatal virus that makes people fall in love for no reason, embarking on an unexpected journey with three men: the single researcher Seopil (Son Seok-koo), his long-time classmate Yeon-woo (Jang Ki-ha), and the only expert who can create a cure, Lee Kyun (Kim Yoon-seok).
Bae Doona expressed her gratitude, saying, “I feel thankful to be making a film that receives so much love. The set was wonderful. The director always had a kind smile and treated the actors well,” and shared, “While filming a painful scene in the movie, I coincidentally felt pain in real life. That scene turned out so realistically. Even while in pain, I thought the scene would come out realistically. I even went to the emergency room. It was such a satisfying scene that the whole universe helped.”
Senior actor Kim Yoon-seok remarked, “When acting with Bae Doona, I didn’t need to prepare or calculate anything,” and said, “It was a very strange experience,” sparking curiosity. He then expressed strong trust, saying, “I understand why world-renowned directors seek Bae Doona. She is a truly precious actress in our country.”
Bae Doona responded, “It was an honor to work with my senior,” and added, “Lee Kyun (Kim Yoon-seok) has a playful dynamic with Taek-seon at the beginning, like Tom and Jerry, but he also has the aspect of a protector who looks after her until the end. I felt that during filming.”
Jang Ki-ha, who made his screen debut with this film, said, “I played the car dealer ‘Yeon-woo’. Since I don’t have much acting experience, I think I was cast because there were commonalities rather than being a character far from me.”
‘Yeon-woo’ is a car dealer who is Taek-seon’s elementary school classmate. He becomes the first contact for Taek-seon and suddenly becomes a suspect for Toxso virus infection.
He shared, “Actually, my personality was similar to Yeon-woo’s. Living a peaceful daily life, I meet Taek-seon and suddenly get caught up in absurd situations. If it were my real situation, I would feel unfair,” and made everyone laugh by saying, “I felt unfair even while acting.”
Director Kang Yi-kwan explained the reason for casting him, saying, “Yeon-woo is a character with a comedic side, but I thought it would feel like something we’ve seen a lot if a seasoned actor played it. Since the film’s material is new, I wanted to see new performances from a new character. He declined several times when I offered, but eventually accepted. I was grateful.”
Jang Ki-ha added, “I received a sudden call and saw the script, and it had much more content than I expected. I had done a sitcom once, but I had no experience in films, so I thought, ‘Is it okay to have this much content?’ I felt very grateful but also sorry,” and explained, “A word from senior Kim Yoon-seok changed my mind. He said that people in the film industry don’t do things half-heartedly. ‘You don’t have to be amazing. Just think of it as coming to play since we’ll set the stage for you.’”
He continued, “Hearing that made me realize I had been arrogant. I had mistakenly thought it was a game where I just had to do well on my own. When would I get to make a film with such great people? It’s a rare opportunity to meet actors who have been active for a long time, so I wanted to approach it with a learning mindset.”
Finally, Bae Doona expressed, “There are really great actors besides us. Moon Sung-keun, Yeom Hye-ran, and Car the Garden also appear. Please look forward to it,” showing her confidence.
