Director of Disney+’s ‘A Shop for Killers’ Shares Why He Chose to Cast Lee Dong-wook
At the show’s press conference, Lee Dong-wook also shared heartwarming behind-the-scenes moments with Kim Hye-jun.
Lee Dong-wook, one of South Korea’s resident heartthrobs, best known for his roles in The Tale of the Nine-Tailed and Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, is starring in another drama. This time, it’s a Disney+ original series called A Shop for Killers, an action-fuelled show that features Lee Dong-wook as the mercenary-turned-arms-dealer Jung Jin-man. In this series based on a novel of a similar title, Lee Dong-wook acts opposite Kim Hye-jun playing his niece Jung Ji-an, whose life is suddenly upheaved when Jin-man abruptly passes away.
On 15 January, the cast of A Shop for Killers held a press conference to discuss the upcoming series, and there were multiple moments where we caught ourselves falling hard for Lee Dong-wook. Here, find out more about the action series starring the 42-year-old actor.
The press conference for A Shop for Killers was attended by the main cast including Lee Dong-wook, Kim Hye-jun, Seo Hyun-woo, Jo Han-sun, Geum Hae-na and Park Ji-bin, as well as the show’s director.
Lee Kwon, who directed the series, shed light on the decision to choose Lee Dong-wook as the main lead in the drama, explaining, “The character, Jung Jin-man, is actually a very heavy-built, bald man in the original novel and there wasn’t an actor who could portray that in terms of looks. Unlike in the novel, in our show, we wanted to showcase the backstory of the character, and a lot of the series is dedicated to the past of Jung Jin-man. So I wanted a good-looking, fierce guy who had that combative spirit. For me, I also wanted the character to have an ice-cold demeanour so I thought Dong-wook was the perfect fit.”
In the action series, Jung Jin-man and Jung Ji-an are an uncle-and-niece duo, whose lives get further entwined after Lee Dong-wook’s character reconnects with his family. When asked about the chemistry between Lee Dong-wook and Kim Hye-jun, the actor fondly recalled, “In the show, we’re uncle and niece but on set, we’re very close friends and we always felt at ease with each other. Sometimes on set, I could be very clumsy and Hye-jun would be very energetically caring for me so she helped me a lot while we were filming.”
In response to Lee Dong-wook, Kim Hye-jun also took some time to appreciate the pair’s bond, “I relied on him a lot. When I attended the stunt academy [in preparation for my role], I had a really hard time and I felt that no one there was really on my side. But Dong-wook told me that I just shouldn’t get hurt and encouraged me to do my best. That was a personal moment that felt heartwarming for me, and I was very touched by his comments.”
The sweet heartwarming moments shared by the two leads of A Shop for Killers will surely lead to more onscreen chemistry from the duo, and safe to say, we’re already excited. The first two episodes of Disney+’s original series A Shop for Killers are available to stream now.
