‘Peninsula’ Star Gang Dong-Won Talks about New Zombie Movie
The Korean horror film, Peninsula is finally making its way to American audiences this week. Star of the film, Gang Dong-won recently sat down with Deadline and gave his first English interview to discuss the sequel and the 2016 hit Train To Busan.
Peninsula was released theatrically in the U.S. via Well Go USA on select screens across the country. Next the film will head exclusively to the horror streaming service Shudder in winter of 2021.
Gang Dong-Won has starred in other films such as Secret Reunion, Temptation of Wolves and A Violent Prosecutor since beginning acting in 2003. Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho enlisted mutual friend in film editor Jinmo Yang (Parasite), to contact Gang about the starring role. Gang stated he was “very inspired and impressed by the director and his vision and his heart.”
Although Gang was a little apprehensive about starring in a sequel. “Sometimes it’s not very interesting as an actor. But when I read the script, I was like, ‘Wow, this is a totally different movie so we have to make this happen.’” It also helped that Gang “really wanted to make a post-apocalyptic movie.”
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This new installment takes place four years after the events of Train to Busan. Gang plays a soldier assigned to a cover operation that takes him right back into the diseased wasteland he previously escaped. During the operation his team happens upon unexpected survivors. They will all need to work together to survive.
The film wrapped production last summer and was finished before the COVID outbreak began. Although the July release date this year provided some uncertainty for the film. Gang stated “Of course everyone was worried about it, we made a quite hard decision. But I think we were brave, we wanted to support the film industry so we decided to open as planned.”
The film was able to do some minor in person promotion locally. “We couldn’t go to promote in other countries in South East Asia, but in Korea we did interviews with reporters in person and had a big press conference — with masks.” Gang added that the film was “a bigger success than we expected in this pandemic situation.”
The Korean film industry in general has had a boost with Parasite winning the Best Picture Oscar and becoming the first Korean film to do so. “It’s not my movie, but I almost felt like it’s my movie,” Gang said. “The actors and the editor are my friends. I was very proud.” He also stated he hopes the US release of the film will assist with domestic business. “We really want to support the industry.”
You can catch Gang Dong-Won in Peninsula now available in select theaters. Check out the trailer below and be sure to follow ScaryNerd for more of all things horror.
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