Face-to-Face with the Gods stars

TAIPEI — If he were to be reincarnated, guess what Kim Yong-hwa would like to be?

“I want to be a whale,” he smiled. “Whales can go to places where people cannot or can never imagine going.”

The director of Along With The Gods (AWTG): The Last 49 Days was with the first set (of three) at the face-to-face interviews with stars Kim Dong-wook and Ha Jung-woo, followed by the second set composed of the other stars Ju Ji-hoon, Kim Hyang-gi and Ma Dong-seok (a.k.a. Don Lee). The venue was a function room right beside the Social Hall of Mandarin Oriental where the press conference was held earlier, covered by Asian journalists including two from the Philippines, Inquirer’s Rito Asilo and your Conversationalist. 

Ju Ji-hoon, Kim Hyang-gi and Ma Dong-seok (a.k.a. Don Lee)

The question may sound frivolous but it’s actually relevant because the movie is about the afterlife and, yes, reincarnation.

AWTG: The Two Worlds is the story of an ordinary fireman named Kim Ja-hong and the head grim reaper Gang-rim (played by Ha Jung-woo) who escorts Ja-hong to the afterlife where he will assign a public defender to represent him in seven trials in 49 days to find out how Ja-hong lived his life and where he ought to spend the rest of eternity.

Produced by Lotte Entertainment and also to be released (like the first) locally by Viva International on Sept. 5, in AWTG: The Last 49 Days, the three Afterlife Guardians (according to the movie’s blurb, Before they were Afterlife Guardians, they were humans) led by Gang-rim are promised their own reincarnations by the king of the Afterlife if they assist 49 souls get their reincarnation in a millennium. While the first AWTG 1 focused on Ja-hong’s seven trials, the second AWTG takes one step further by setting the film against backdrops of various timelines and multiple realms.

Ha Jung-woo plays the grim reaper in the series

AWTG: The Last 49 Days is expected to surpass the box-office record of AWTG: The Two Worlds which dominated the 2017 Christmas season and drew more than 14.4 million admissions in Korea, thus becoming the second highest-grosser in Korean cinema history. The huge success spread beyond Korea. It holds the record of being Taiwan’s No. 1 Asian film of all time and Hong Kong’s No. 2 Korean film of all time, and a certified smash in North America, Australia, Vietnam and other key cities in the world.

Promised director Kim Yong-hwa, “The audience will experience a spectacle of a story that goes from the Living World to the Afterlife and through multiple timelines.”

Thankfully, the movie has English subtitles that helped Rito and me, as well as the non-Korean-speaking journalists from other Asian countries, follow the story that lasts for more than two hours.

Director Kim Yong-hwa

The two AWTGs, both directed by Kim Yong-hwa (other works include Oh! Brothers, 200 Pounds Beauty, Take Off and Mr. Go), were the first Korean film to be shot back-to-back, a “feat” said to have never been attempted in Korean cinema.

Asked why the two movies were shot as one, director Kim Yong-hwa explained, “Along With The Gods series was conceived with The Last 49 Days. Since it was seen as the natural ending of the series, we had to build the world of the Afterlife with The Two Worlds. The two parts are interconnected and co-exist side by side, so we conducted many simulations. It can be said that The Two Worlds is The Last 49 Days’ trailer.” 

Ju Ji-hoon and Don Lee

A few words about the five stars who were in Taipei to promote the movie:

• Ha Jung-woo (turned 40 last March 11), also a screenwriter, a director and producer, comes from an acting family. His father, Kim Yong-gun, is a well-known veteran actor while his younger brother Kim Young-hoon (a.k.a. Cha Hyun-woo) is an aspiring actor.

• Kim Dong-wook (35 last July 29) appeared in student short films and several minor parts before he became a star through his supporting role in the TV series Coffee Prince (aired locally on GMA). It was the 2012 period drama The Concubine that brought him the best reviews of his career. 

Kim Hyang-gi who started as a child actress at age 5.

• Ma Dong-seok (a.k.a. Don Lee, 47 last March 1) is a Korean-American actor fondly remembered for his breakout performance as a tough working-class man in Train to Busan, the movie that won him a Best Supporting Actor award and made him a bankable actor in South Korea. Before he turned to acting, he was the personal trainer of some mixed martial artists Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman.

• Ju Ji-hoon (36 last May 16) is a multi-awarded model who endorses such A-list brands as Calvin Klein, Levi’s and Reebook. His first leading role was in the 2006 hit drama Princess Hours (not the Thai version now airing on GMA). His other notable works include The Devil, Antique and Mask.

• Kim Hyang-gi (18 on Aug. 9) started as a child actress at around age 5, and has starred in films and TV series such as Wedding Dress, The Queen’s Classroom, Thread of Lies and Snowy Road.

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