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'Miracle' director reminds us not to fear failure
- September 03, 2021 | Broadcasting
'Miracle' director reminds us not to fear failure
Updated : 2021-09-01 09:04
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Park Jeong-min, an award-winning actor known for taking on many diverse roles in his career, described his new film, "Miracle," as one of the most touching dramas of the year, that's genuine and witty to the core.
Set in 1986, "Miracle" tells the story of math prodigy Joon-kyung (Park), who lives in a remote town in North Gyeongsang Province. His five-hour commute to school weighs on him, and that encourages him to come up with a plan to build a train station in his hometown.
Joon-kyung joins hands with other townspeople to obtain approval for the project to create a train station. The film is based on a true story. Yangwon Station, located in Bonghwa County, North Gyeongsang Province, which was built by the townspeople in 1988, is recorded as Korea's first private train station.
Director Lee Jang-hoon, who previously directed the romance drama, "Be With You," said he worked carefully to find the balance between drama and comedy, reality and fantasy and the relationships between characters.
"There's a great synergy between the lead actors, but the film's narrative is mostly centered on Joon-kyung. So I tried to focus on his emotional journey, as he breaks out of his shell to challenge himself," he said during an online press conference for the film, Wednesday.
Lee explained that the film is about dreaming and failing.
"Because of the harsh realities of life, people are afraid of failure these days. They're unwilling to challenge the status quo or to explore new things. I wanted to give them a wake-up call, by telling the story of a character who pursues one's heartfelt passion and faces failure," he said.
Park confessed that he had a lot of worries about playing the role of a high school student. To avoid looking much older than his friends in the film, the 34-year-old actor asked the director to cast older actors to play his schoolmates.
"To be honest, I felt a lot of pressure about portraying a teenager on screen. That's why I initially declined to play Joon-kyung. I talked to Lee about how I felt about playing a teenager's role at my age (in his mid-thirties), and he promised not to cast age-appropriate teenagers as my schoolmates," he said.
Lim Yoon-a, who plays Joon-kyung's supportive friend, Ra-hee, in the film, said that learning the strong North Gyeongsang Province accent was the biggest challenge of the project.
"My grandparents are from Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, so I naturally picked up the accent. I was nervous at first because I had never acted in a dialect before. But a lot of people, including our dialect coach, checked on my accent on the set," she said.
"Miracle," one of the most anticipated films targeting the Chuseok holiday, will hit local theaters on Sept. 15.
Park Jeong-min, an award-winning actor known for taking on many diverse roles in his career, described his new film, "Miracle," as one of the most touching dramas of the year, that's genuine and witty to the core.
Set in 1986, "Miracle" tells the story of math prodigy Joon-kyung (Park), who lives in a remote town in North Gyeongsang Province. His five-hour commute to school weighs on him, and that encourages him to come up with a plan to build a train station in his hometown.
Joon-kyung joins hands with other townspeople to obtain approval for the project to create a train station. The film is based on a true story. Yangwon Station, located in Bonghwa County, North Gyeongsang Province, which was built by the townspeople in 1988, is recorded as Korea's first private train station.
Director Lee Jang-hoon, who previously directed the romance drama, "Be With You," said he worked carefully to find the balance between drama and comedy, reality and fantasy and the relationships between characters.
"There's a great synergy between the lead actors, but the film's narrative is mostly centered on Joon-kyung. So I tried to focus on his emotional journey, as he breaks out of his shell to challenge himself," he said during an online press conference for the film, Wednesday.
Lee explained that the film is about dreaming and failing.
"Because of the harsh realities of life, people are afraid of failure these days. They're unwilling to challenge the status quo or to explore new things. I wanted to give them a wake-up call, by telling the story of a character who pursues one's heartfelt passion and faces failure," he said.
Park confessed that he had a lot of worries about playing the role of a high school student. To avoid looking much older than his friends in the film, the 34-year-old actor asked the director to cast older actors to play his schoolmates.
"To be honest, I felt a lot of pressure about portraying a teenager on screen. That's why I initially declined to play Joon-kyung. I talked to Lee about how I felt about playing a teenager's role at my age (in his mid-thirties), and he promised not to cast age-appropriate teenagers as my schoolmates," he said.
Lim Yoon-a, who plays Joon-kyung's supportive friend, Ra-hee, in the film, said that learning the strong North Gyeongsang Province accent was the biggest challenge of the project.
"My grandparents are from Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, so I naturally picked up the accent. I was nervous at first because I had never acted in a dialect before. But a lot of people, including our dialect coach, checked on my accent on the set," she said.
"Miracle," one of the most anticipated films targeting the Chuseok holiday, will hit local theaters on Sept. 15.
Reporter : yeons.kwak@koreatimes.co.kr
