WHAT DREW SONG JOONG-KI IN TO HIS ‘SPACE SWEEPER’ CHARACTER AND HOW THE FILIPINO LANGUAGE BECAME PART OF THE FILM
It’s 2092 in “Space Sweepers” and whatever language you speak is irrelevant because an ear device will translate it to your own. This is why languages such as English, Spanish, Chinese and even Filipino became part of the Korean film.
“I am not a traveler but I have this memory of spending the holidays in the Philippines. That’s probably the reason why I came to work with a Filipino actor,” director and writer Jo Sung-hee said to Inquirer Super during a Zoom interview this week.
The idea for “Space Sweepers” was born in 2009 when a friend told the director about the dangers of space junk. But Jo said that it didn’t mean that it took him over 10 years to make the film. It was just that he was busy making other films.
The other films that he created included the blockbuster hit “A Werewolf Boy.” It was Song Joong-ki’s breakout role. Jo said that he has always wanted to work with Song again since then. We asked the director if he is feeling any pressure to match the success of their first project together.
He answered, “There is always pressure regardless of how successful my former work was. Sometimes the audience just falls in love with something that you didn’t even pay attention to in your film. Sometimes you put your heart and soul into a certain aspect and they end up disliking it. That’s why I’m always nervous and a bit anxious to see how the audience is going to respond.”
The film, which premiered last Friday on Netflix, is about a group of junk collectors aboard the spaceship Victory. They are made up of Tae-ho (Song), Captain Jang (Kim Tae-ri), Tiger Park (Jin Sun-kyu) and the robot Bubs (Yoo Hae-jin). In one of their expeditions, they encounter an android named Dorothy who has the power to change the course of humanity.
Song said that he’s attracted to characters such as the werewolf boy Chul-soo and junk collector Tae-ho.
“I never played a handsome role. I’m always dirty. I am attracted to these types of characters because the personalities of these characters are very pure. They also have the warmest hearts,” Song said.
The cast was also interviewed by the Philippine press through Zoom. Here are excerpts.
Is “Space Sweepers” the future you imagined?
Song Joong-ki (SJK): It’s so different, that’s why I loved it so much. When I thought about the space or a future
in space I would just think of something very shiny and polished. But when the director handed me the script for the first time and I read it, I felt like it was not much different from our lives today. It wasn’t as polished or put together. A lot of it was kind of falling apart. I was drawn to it because it was so similar to the times we live in. Issues are revolving around the environment, race and food. These are all familiar issues.
What was it like doing your fight scenes and the scenes you did with Bubs (the robot)?
Kim Tae-ri (KTR): There were challenges but it was really fun. Hae-jin had to perform with motion capture technology. He had to have all sensors attached to him, and we shot every scene twice with him and then without
him.
Jin Sun-kyu (JSK): First of all, my mindset was that no one can get hurt. We have to be as safe as possible. And as for how I prepared physically, I’ve always been interested in martial arts, gymnastics and a lot of physical things. So I think that all of the
stuff that I’ve done as a child prepared me.
What drew you to your role?
SJK: I was drawn more to the film itself rather than my character. The biggest thing was I was really curious as to how a Korean made space sci-fi film would turn out to be. And I thought I could be proud of what we would be able to create together. As for Tae-ho, I was drawn to his humanity.
What’s your strategy going in as Bubs?
Yoo Hae-jin: I didn’t look at the fact that he was a robot. I tried to look at him as a living thing. He is a machine and is made of metal but I approached him like a living thing with a heart.
Do you think your costume told Captain Jang’s story?
KTR: Captain Jang, she’s not very muscular. She is not someone that stands out in a crowd. Her clothes are almost childlike. Her space suit is orange which I thought was interesting. The color didn’t tell us the characteristics or the personalities of the characters, but it was something that brought out the chemistry between the crew.
Director Jo visualized Captain Jang with sunglasses and gadgets. It was not very difficult to bring her to life. As for the hairstyle, it was one of the hairstyles that I had done before in a shoot. I thought it would be adequate for this character.
As you can see it’s not the very freshest of hairstyles, it’s a little oily. She doesn’t get to wash her hair often in the spaceship there’s not a lot of water, and she has a very tough character so I thought that the hairstyle was quite useful in depicting her character.