[Interview] Song Joong-ki, the actor who completes and creates his own character, has returned!

Song Joong-ki’s filmography has always been dynamic. From films like The Battleship Island and A Werewolf Boy to TV series like Arthdal Chronicles, Descendants of the Sun, The Innocent Man, and Sungkyunkwan Scandal, the actor has built an impressive filmography challenging himself to overcome the limitations of a given character, time period, and genre for each project and making his presence clearly known to audiences.

He has returned after a three-year-long break with Space Sweepers. Tae-ho, the highly-talented pilot of spaceship Victory, was brought to life by Song Joong-ki as a multi-dimensional character who may seem cold, but has a kind heart; someone who seems clumsy, but in fact, has a great gift as a pilot. The actor, who has always completed his characters with his imagination to create his own versions, will now captivate audiences again with his performance that adds depth to a character with a cheerful surface and hidden emotions underneath, allowing no one to imagine anyone else portraying Tae-ho but him.

 

Kim Tae-ho, the pilot of the debris collection spaceship Victory

“I could do anything for money.
Literally anything.”

A former elite member of UTS Special Force Squad. An incident occurred during his operation to arrest illegal migrants from Earth, after which he felt skeptical of his job that requires him to kill people. He refused to follow the orders from his superiors to kill, and as a result, had everything taken away from him. Fallen straight from the top of the social ladder to the bottom overnight, he then becomes the pilot of the spaceship Victory and is desperate to do anything to earn money, giving the impression that he has something that he must do by saving up.

 

INTERVIEW

Q : How did you feel about working with director Jo Sung-hee again after A Werewolf Boy ?

Song Joong-ki : When I first listened to the plot of S pace Sweepers while we were still filming for A Werewolf Boy , I thought it was exactly the kind of lovely and heart-warming film that director Jo Sung-hee would make. After receiving the script, I couldn’t keep myself from reading it through and the first thought that struck me was: “Director Jo never disappoints!” I genuinely have such great faith in director Jo. When he mentioned that he would pass the script to me, I already made up my mind to take on the project without even reading it yet. I was so happy to be able to work with him on our second project together where he brought another amazing idea onto the screen.

Q : What is S pace Sweepers about?

Song Joong-ki : Space Sweepers is the first Korean sci-fi film set in space. It’s an action adventure that is fun and heart-warming. I was glad that Korea can now produce a film set in space where spacecrafts zoom by in the vastness of space. It’s a story about four characters—including Tae-ho, who is my character, the charismatic leader Captain Jang, Tiger Park, played by Jin Sun-kyu, and Bubs—who form a crew that cleans up space debris but keep losing money let alone making any.

Q : What made you decide to join the cast of S pace Sweepers ?

Song Joong-ki : When I first listened to the story of S pace Sweepers , I instantly thought of this image in my head of a stunning spacecraft with the Korean flag and its name—S eung-ri-ho —written in Korean, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. After reading the script, I thought, “Wow, director Jo Sung-hee is going to create another amazing film. I have to do this. I can’t let anyone else play Tae-ho.”

Q : Please tell us about your character and what you focused on to bring the character to life

Song Joong-ki : Tae-ho is the pilot of the spaceship Victory and has an unmatched ability as a pilot. He is also an opportunist and realist who values money more than anything in the world. As soon as I read the script, I first decided that I would not try to look cool in this film. Tae-ho seems like a cheerful guy, but he carries sadness in him underneath that facade, so I wanted to portray that duality of the character well.

Q : Given that a lot of the scenes of the film were created by VFX, were there any challenges for you?

Song Joong-ki : It was very challenging as we had to calculate our movement in a void space. When we were shooting for the film, the visual effects were not complete, so we had to perform based on the rough context of the scenes we were filming and rely on our imagination for everything else. I had a lot of conversations with the other cast members on set. But that being said, as much as it was challenging, I’m expecting to see some spectacular scenes once the film is out.

Q : What scene are you looking forward to the most as an actor?

Song Joong-ki : I’m most excited about the space chase scene. I can’t wait to see how the scene turned out because it’s the result of Tae-ho, Captain Jang, Tiger Park, and Bubs being individually shot, which was later edited with visual effects. Most importantly, just the thought of getting to watch a Korean film that features a space chase scene excites me very much, and I hope that it will blow away the viewers as well.

Check out Space Sweepers, premieres on February 5 , only on Netflix!

Credit Photos : Netlix