[Press Conference] THE SWORDSMAN: When Emotion is Harder than Language for Jang Hyuk

In less than a week, Indonesia is finally ready to welcome latest movie from Jang Hyuk, The Swordsman. Starring not only Jang Hyuk, but also Kim Hyun Soo, BTOB’s Minhyuk, Jeong Man Sik, Jang Hyun Sung, and Indonesia’s top movie star, Joe Taslim, on his Korean movie debut, The Swordsman tells story about best swordsman, Tae Yul, who picks up his sword again to save his daughter from Qing’s family member, Gurutai.

Working for Each Other the First Time

On an earlier virtual press conference, Korean Updates got to hear stories behind the movie from the stars themselves, Jang Hyuk and Joe Taslim. Jang Hyuk said that before working with Joe Taslim, he tried to watch The Raid, which Joe starred in in 2011. Jang was deeply impressed by Joe’s performance there and was excited to film an action movie with the star. Jang was even more ecstatic after the filming started, as he said, Joe is a very humble, down-to-earth figure, who is amazing on set. Jang said, thanks to Joe’s incredible performance, they could shot best action scene. Jang expressed how he felt honored to be able to work with Joe, an established actor who is already active working in Hollywood.

Both stars didn’t have enough compliments for each other with Joe also expressing his admiration to Jang Hyuk, who never failed to show his determination in working on the movie. Joe said Jang discussed a lot of things with the director and it was fascinating for him how Jang was willing to truly understand the story behind every action scene and bring the understandings to screen. “I want to bring that attitude while working in the future,” said Joe.

Tae Yul and Kurutai

Jang Hyuk told us that he could relate with his character Tae Yul, who does his best to protect the one he loves, while Joe Taslim said how he loves his character Kurutai because even as a villain, the character has some layers that makes him interesting. Joe felt really nice to play a character with prominent color and expects viewers to understand his character later after they watched the movie.

On working together with Joe, Jang Hyuk said that rather than feeling burdened by the language barrier, it was harder to match their emotion when acting. “Joe is the type of actor that really embrace every scene and his performance, so we talked a lot about the emotional expression when we worked together,” Jang Hyuk said. Both agreed that filming the final scene was the hardest for them because of how intense it was. Joe’s Kurutai was supposed to be in a great fit in that scene, so with the tremendous speed that Joe performed it was kind of hard for Jang Hyuk to shoot it. Both actors said they feel fortunate to have each other for the scene as it required a great chemistry.

The Swordsman, Debut, and Movie Industry

When asked of how they would describe the movie in 1 word, Joe Taslim chose elegant because even though The Swordsman is quite a violent movie, but it has much more than that, while Jang Hyuk expressed it as passion.

Making his debut in Korean movie industry with The Swordsman, even though he admitted that it was hard for him to act in languages that he doesn’t use, Joe Taslim wishes more Indonesian actors can work in Korean movie seeing how big the industry has become. Joe said how he loves the vibe that he get while working for Korean movie, just as he does in Indonesian movies.

Jang Hyuk and Joe Taslim wrapped up the conference with hopes for everyone to be healthy and for them to meet their fans soon. Jang Hyuk said that more than being a mere good movie, he believes that The Swordsman has a great story that viewers can relate to.

The Swordsman will officially be released in Indonesia on October 29, with advanced screening exclusive as opening title at Korea Indonesia Film Festival 2020, which will be held offline at CGV Paris van Java and CGV Kings Shopping Center on October 28. Watch The Swordsman only at CGV, Cinepolis, FLIX, Kota Cinema, & more cinemas from October 29!