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| From left, actor Park Sung-woong, director Kim Joo-hwan, actors Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi pose during a press conference for Netflix's series "Bloodhounds" in Mapo District, Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Netflix |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Netflix's new Korean original series, "Bloodhounds," is set to offer an action-packed bromance story with actors Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi.
The 8-part action series, which will premiere on Friday, follows the story of two promising, young boxers, Kim Geon-woo (Woo) and Hong Woo-jin (Lee). The two meet as rivals but come to form a special bond when Kim gets involved with ruthless loan shark Kim Myeong-gil (Park Sung-woong) after his mother falls into huge debt with a loan shark.
The two boxers join hands with a benevolent moneylender to take down a loan shark who preys on the financially vulnerable.
The series, based on the webcomics of the same name, is directed by filmmaker Kim Joo-hwan, who is known for helming the 2017 comedy buddy movie, "Midnight Runners."
The director shared that the series will deliver a cathartic experience with a good-beats-evil story.
"The original webcomic is set during the COVID-19 pandemic and touches on deep struggles. I felt if I add more action to it, I could create a piece that many people can relate to and experience catharsis," he said during the press conference for the series, held in Mapo District, Seoul, Wednesday.
"At the time (of making the series), there had been a lot of issues with illegal loan sharks in real life. And the story shared a lot of similarities with the story that I wanted to tell since 'Midnight Runners' is like young people putting passion and dedication into poetic justice. So I wanted to capture the message of hope and justice."
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| A scene from Netflix's series "Bloodhounds" / Courtesy of Netflix |
Woo accepted the role while serving his mandatory military service from 2020 to 2022. He shared that he had faith in the director when he decided to join the project.
"One day, the director texted me 'Sent it' and later I found out that he had sent me the script. And that was the start," he said. "The director knows me better than anyone. So I knew that he trusted me with the role."
The actor added that the biggest challenge was playing the boxer character. "Exercising is my everyday routine so I kept that in the military as well. I focused on practicing boxing moves more than getting fit," he said. "Doing boxing from the start to the end was the biggest challenge for me. As I was working on this series, I felt like I've become a national team's boxer."
Lee expressed excitement about joining the director's new buddy genre work with Woo.
"I really enjoyed the director's previous work 'Midnight Runners.' When I read the script for this series, I felt a similarity with that movie. I've been drawn to bromance stories and was really wanting to do action. So I was excited to do both action and bromance through this opportunity."
The director hinted that this series will have much more action scenes than "Midnight Runners."
"When you say the action in 'Midnight Runners' is 1, 'Bloodhounds' have six times the action scenes than that," he said.
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