Typhoon Movie Opens Nationwide June 2nd

6/1/2006 Houston -- Directed by Kwak Kyong-taek of the 2001 mega hit ``Friend (Chingu),’’ ``The Typhoon’’ tells the story of a face-off of two young men from opposites sides. Kwak has once again teamed up with Jang Dong-gun, one of the main characters in ``Friend,’’ and cast Lee Jung-jae as Jang’s rival. It opens Nationwide Friday, June 2nd.

``My father fled from North Korea, and because of him, I’ve always wanted to make a film about the tragic situation of this divided nation,’’ Kwak said during a news conference held at the Grand Hotel in Pusan after he finished shooting the scene at the hotel.

``I believe that the old saying, `out of sight and out of mind,’ is really true,’’ the director said. ``It has been long since we met each other, which makes people here think that reunification is not urgent. So I hope this movie will remind them of the necessity of the reunification.’’

In the film, Jang plays a pirate named Sin, who defects from the North but is rejected by South Korea and decides to get revenge against the South. Lee plays a patriotic naval officer, named Kang Se-jong, who tries to stop Sin. Many questions were thrown to Jang regarding the similarities and differences between ``The Typhoon’’ and last year’s war film ``Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War,’’ as he starred in the two films that are both based on the tragic history. ``Taegukgi’’ set a box-office record attracting more than 11.6 million moviegoers in South Korea.

``There are many similarities between the two films, of course as they are both big-budget blockbusters and depictions of the tragedy of the Korean War,’’ Jang said. ``But this film focuses more on the showdown between two young men destined to fight, while `Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War,’ deals with the tragic story of a family.’’

With a production cost of about 1.5 billion won, the director and actors said they all felt the pressure to be a commercial success, but they were very confident they would show the best movie as they had worked under prime conditions thanks to the latest technology along with the finest film crew. As the blockbuster has to depict numerous fighting and chasing scenes over water, it has built various indoor and outdoor sets, recreating warships on simulated seas.