Woo Do Hwan of Bloodhounds 2 said he gained weight by eating four meals a day for the role.
Woo Do Hwan gave an interview on the afternoon of the 9th at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno District, Seoul. There he met with domestic reporters and talked about the recently released Netflix original series Bloodhounds 2.
Bloodhounds 2 is a drama that depicts Geon-woo (played by Woo Do Hwan) and WOOJIN (played by Lee Sang Yi), who beat up a vicious illegal loan shark gang, delivering another satisfying straight hook against a global illegal boxing league ruled by money and violence. Following season 1, which was released in 2023, season 2 was released three years later.
Bloodhounds 2, a seven-episode series released on Netflix on the 3rd, recorded 5 million viewing counts (the number of views divided by the total running time of the work) within three days of release, ranking No. 2 in the global top 10 non-English series category on the Netflix Tudum TOP10 website as of the 8th. It also immediately topped Korea's top 10 series and has continued its hot popularity by appearing on top 10 lists in 67 countries worldwide.
Meanwhile, Woo Do Hwan starred as the lead Geon-woo again following season 1. He said he prepared the character by gaining up to 13 kilograms and that for season 2 "I exercised much more systematically. In the early part of season 1 I just had the body of a boxer, but in the later part we tried to make the body a bit bigger. That period was only one month. But for season 2 I had about three to four months to prepare my body. I ate four meals a day."
He added, "Then I ate until just before sleeping. My face got a bit puffier and I really tried to gain some fat. When I exercise, I gain weight. If I don't exercise I don't eat much, so after exercise I would definitely eat chicken breast, and if I really didn't want to eat I would order something like Jikoba. I had to eat four bowls of rice a day. From waking up in the morning until going to sleep I had to only exercise. It was important to build my stamina."
Woo Do Hwan, who said "season 1 started filming the day after I was discharged from the military," said, "If season 1 was filmed when I was at my healthiest and most fit, season 2 had 'Mr. Plankton' and 'tropical night' in between, so I thought I might not have that level of stamina. Otherwise I could get injured during filming. In midsummer I couldn't run during the day, so I ran continuously at night. I tried to build my stamina that way. In the morning I went to action school to work out, went straight to the gym at noon, rested, then ran at night — I kept preparing like that."
As a result, Geon-woo grew even more in Bloodhounds 2. Woo Do Hwan said, "Geon-woo in season 1 was a 'boy.' He couldn't express himself well, he couldn't smile well, and he was a friend who hadn't yet had much social life. The title was also a rookie tournament. But season 2 began with a world title match," and added, "He must have worked terribly hard for the world title match for three years, and I wondered how much better his body would have to be. There was no clear benchmark. I decided to do my best. I thought that would be my limit."
He said, "Personality-wise, in season 1 he lost a lot of people. So I thought he might become a bit tougher. If he stayed gentle he wouldn't be able to protect everyone, and he would feel that in season 2 as well. Because there is still much evil in the world, we ended with the idea that boxing alone is no longer enough," adding, "Like Sang-yi suggested doing different training and practicing taking down the Bloodhounds. At the end, while fighting, Geon-woo presses on wounds and steps on feet — those actions show that a boxer's heart isn't about following the rules of boxing, it's about protecting the people he loves, and I think Geon-woo grew bit by bit."
(Continued in interview ②)<
[Photo] Provided by Netflix.
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