Director Yoon Jong-bin “Ha Jung-woo proposed to Choo Ja-hyun over the phone in ‘Narco-Saints’…That’s how K actually got married”
Director Yoon Jong-bin revealed the stories behind “Narco-Saints”.
Director Yoon Jong-bin had an interview with My Daily at a cafe in Sogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul on the morning of Sep 15th. Earlier on Sep 9th, he visited viewers in more than 190 countries around the world with Netflix’s original series “Narco-Saints“.
“Narco-Saints” is an adaptation based on the true story of Jo Bong-haeng, a drug king in Suriname, South America, and K, a civilian collaborator who played a decisive role in arresting Jo Bong-haeng in 2009.
The drama tells the life-threatening journey of Kang In-gu (Ha Jung-woo), a civilian businessman who has no choice but to cooperate with the secret operation of the National Intelligence Service to catch Jeon Yo-hwan (Hwang Jung-min), the Korean drug lord who has taken control of Suriname.
In particular, director Yoon Jong-bin helmed a drama for the first time with “Narco-Saints”, drawing attention. He worked with the lead actor Ha Jung-woo many times, from his directorial debut film “The Unforgiven” (2005), “Beastie boys” (2008), “Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time” (2012), “Kundo: Age of the Rampant” (2014) to “Narco-Saints”, giving viewers a “trustworthy” fun.
On this day, director Yoon Jong-bin said, “I met K right after finishing ‘The Spy Gone North’. I met him about three times. He gave off a soldier-like feeling. In fact, I wasn’t convinced when I first saw the deposition of this case. I wondered what kind of person he is to live in the same house with the drug king for three years. I wondered why he risked his life to do such a dangerous thing no matter how much the NIS paid him. But as soon as I saw K’s face, I immediately understood that it would be possible.”
He continued, “I got the impression from K that he was strong enough to pierce a bullet. So, I thought it would be too tough and unsophisticated if I wrote K’s story as it is. However, my character has the same essence of having inner strength and strong spirit as him.”
Director Yoon Jong-bin confessed, “That’s what K’s real life was like. He lost his parents when he was young and has three younger siblings instead of two. The line ‘My tears didn’t come out’ at the funeral is also true. That’s what K wrote for me. In fact, he ran a karaoke room as a side job and started a skate business in Suriname to supply the U.S. military.”
In particular, director Yoon Jong-bin surprised everyone by revealing, “He called a woman and proposed to her like Kang In-gu in ‘Narco-Saints’. He came to the set with his wife.”
Source: daum
