"Endgame investigation" Bae Seong-woo said he has been making efforts to change his life after drunk driving.
On the morning of the 26th, an interview with lead actor Bae Seong-woo of "Endgame investigation" was held at a cafe on Samcheong-ro in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
"Endgame investigation" (screenwriter-director Park Cheol-hwan, distributed by Ace Maker Movie Works Co., Ltd., produced by Cheongnyeon Film Co., Ltd.·IAAN) is a crime investigation drama about Seo Jae-hyeok, a detective demoted to a rural backwater who is given a last chance in life, and about how he sets off for a final investigation to Seoul with rookie detective Jung Jung-ho (played by Jung Ga-ram) to catch the true culprit in a murder case involving two suspects.
Based on a true incident, "Endgame investigation" is director Park Cheol-hwan's first film as a director; he has demonstrated directorial skill in series such as Grid and Blood Free. The story promises relentless entertainment with a chain of developments and repeated twists in the search for the real culprit under the premise of "one incident, two suspects," plus diverse chemistry. In it, Bae Seong-woo and Jung Ga-ram play veteran detective Seo Jae-hyeok and influencer-turned rookie detective Kim Jung-ho, respectively, forming a detective duo with strong chemistry; Esom appears as straight-talking prosecutor Kang Mi-joo, Cho Han-Cheul as elite detective Oh Min-ho, and Yoon Kyung-ho joins as suspect Jo Dong-o to complete the ensemble cast.
Most notably, lead actor Bae Seong-woo was caught driving under the influence in November 2020 at a level that would cancel his license. He left the SBS drama Fly, Gaechonyong midway through and went into a period of self-reflection, and he was fined 7 million won for drunk driving under the Road Traffic Act.
He later returned through the film 1947 Boston (2023) and the Netflix series The 8 Show (2024), and continued activities appearing in Disney+ Light Shop and Coupang Play variety show SNL Korea Reboot season 7. In addition, the project that had been indefinitely postponed due to the drunk driving incident, originally titled Business trip investigation, was released to the public after seven years under the title Endgame investigation.
Regarding the unintentionally prolonged hiatus, Bae Seong-woo said, I don't think my thoughts about acting have particularly changed. I've always thought that since my theater days: I hope plays and films attract many viewers and do well, but I hope the people who saw them felt good. That's what I want. No one knows how to make something a hit. If someone knew that method, it would be 100% successful, but nobody knows, he said. I only sharpen the acting I know and work hard within the limits of my ability. It's not a great talent, so I always worry and make efforts.
He added, Acting is actually lying, but you watch it knowing it's a lie. Audiences say, 'Give me an entertaining lie,' but after going through a lot recently, I thought, Isn't how the person lives important too? I felt it wasn't everything inside that, he confessed.
Saying he has cut back on drinking and uses public transportation more than before, Bae Seong-woo confessed ahead of this interview, To be honest, it was hard. I used to enjoy doing interviews. I enjoyed talking about projects; while talking about them I became curious and wondered how people saw them. I used to enjoy that part a little, but today it had been a long time, and for various reasons I was nervous and barely slept last night. My body is sweating now, he said.
Asked, "Has anything in the direction of your life changed since the drunk driving controversy?" he said, You must not do strange things in order to live righteously, and added, Overall, as time passes, living too rigidly has limits. It's not easy to keep living like that. Rather, because that's so hard, I try to live as flexibly as possible, but at the same time I think I have to live carefully. Things I shouldn't do I can simply not do.
Meanwhile, Endgame investigation opens on Apr. 2.
[Photo] Provided by Ace Maker Movie Works Co., Ltd.
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