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| Actor Jung Woo plays the role of Dong-ha in Netflix's new original series "A Model Family." Courtesy of Netflix |
Jung plays cash-strapped professor in new thriller action series
By Lee Gyu-lee
Rising to stardom overnight with the lead role in the hit TV series "Reply 1994" in 2013, Jung Woo has proven himself to be a versatile actor, from playing a crusading lawyer in the film "New Trial" (2017) to a short-tempered detective in the comedy series "Mad for Each Other" (2021).
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| Actor Jung Woo / Courtesy of Netflix |
"(After getting the script,) I flipped a page to see what it's about and it was really interesting. The script was tightly-woven and detailed. Not just the lines but several characters popped out in the story," Jung said during an interview with The Korea Times, Wednesday.
Led by director Kim Jin-woo, the 10-part thriller action series, which was released on Aug. 12, revolves around a man, Dong-ha (Jung). He seems to have a model life with a decent job as a college lecturer and a happy family ― two children and a wife, Eun-ju, played by Yoon Jin-seo.
Underneath their seemingly idyllic life, Dong-ha's life is falling apart, with his wife asking for a divorce as well as losing the money for his sick son's surgery. When he unwittingly steals a pile of cash that belongs to a drug cartel, he ends up working for the cartel's second-in-command, Gwang-cheol (Park Hee-soon), as a drug courier to save his family.
The actor shared that he lost weight to create a more realistic look for his character.
"The things that happened to Dong-ha weren't exactly everyday things. They were extreme situations that (many people) would never have to experience in life. The director and I discussed that Dong-ha's not an athlete and is a normal person in academia," he said.
"So even though he tries, he's not going to have strength like a superhero. It was more realistic (that he keeps failing) and I put more focus on those realistic parts. So I lost about 5 kilograms to look slightly built and chose to wear more toned-down colored clothes."
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| A scene from the series "A Model Family" / Courtesy of Netflix |
The series involves action scenes where Dong-ha is running away from or encountering cartel members, like getting buried alive or jumping out a window.
The actor said that he used those scenes to express his body language so as to portray the nail-biting situations that he was put in.
"Dong-ha needs to show his feelings through his body, facial expression and eyes without saying many lines in intense moments. So I had to use a lot of breathing … so I would sprint like a crazy person just out of the camera's field of view right before the shoot and do the scene breathless," he said.
When asked about working with Park, the actor shared that Park is his role model.
"Everyone says Park's the best actor, but he's also a very kindhearted, a nice person. He would always be there and care for you. He was a true leader on the set," he said. "Park is an actor that I admire and want to become like … and I'm sure everyone who has worked with him feels the same way."
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