(continued from interview ①) Director Kim Byung-woo of "The Great Flood" expressed his affection for actress Kim Da-mi.
On the 22nd at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, an interview with director Kim Byung-woo of the Netflix film "The Great Flood" was held.
"The Great Flood" is an SF disaster blockbuster that depicts the struggle of those betting humanity's last hope for survival on the planet's final day, fought inside apartments (APT.) submerged by the flood. Director Kim Byung-woo, known for his delicate direction that has been praised for handling the multilayered emotions of characters in extreme situations in works such as "The Terror Live" and "PMC: The Bunker," directed the film and took the helm.
In the film, Kim Da-mi plays Anna, an artificial intelligence researcher and humanity's last hope, who transforms into a mother trying to protect her 6-year-old son; while vividly portraying Anna's constantly growing and changing aspects as an AI researcher who must fulfill her responsibilities, director Kim Byung-woo spoke about Kim Da-mi.
Director Kim Byung-woo explained about casting Kim Da-mi, "If in the film she looks too much like a mother from the first scene, the character has nowhere to go. At first viewing it should start with 'Is she really the birth mother? It doesn't quite fit.' I thought that could indicate the direction the character should take. At first many people around me said that, and when I asked about casting, many asked, 'Why?' But after seeing the edited cut, some said they thought they understood why this actor was right for the role."
In particular, Kim said about actress Kim Da-mi, "This film uniquely compels me to reflect. How much I made her suffer. To the point it seems excessive. But we couldn't not shoot it. What else could we do. I did think she had a really hard time," and confessed, "As you will see, she's constantly hit by the current. The water isn't still like a lake. I told them, 'Think of it as the ocean in the middle of the Pacific.' I said at least think of it as the distant East Sea. I wanted the water to be that strong and powerful, so it must have been hard."
He continued, "It must have been hard, but there was no choice. We couldn't make the current weaker. She accepted it without special complaints and fully understood why we had to shoot it that way. Repeated difficult takes can be tiring. Makeup was hard too. Her hair even became like kelp," and added, "Thinking about it now, it's horrendous. How did we do that?" which drew laughter.
He also said, "We once did more than a dozen takes. At that time, we thought, 'We shouldn't shoot any more of this,' so we cut and tried to move on, but the distance between my monitor and the set's tank monitor was about 100 meters. We could only see the actor's condition on the screen, and then she said let's do it one more time. Then from our side a low exclamation of 'wow' came out. She worked very hard. I didn't want to do that either, but it was a film that left us no choice," and added, "Talking about it makes me increasingly apologetic. At some point I couldn't meet her eyes."
(Continued in interview ③)
[Photo] Provided by Netflix
[OSEN]