Director Kim Yoo-jin

If you are being chased, you are a robber. If you are doing the chasing, you are a detective. We used to play chase when we were little, and the game did not end until the detectives caught the robbers. There's only one way to get a criminal: catching them. The game cannot end if you donˇŚt pursue, and the detectives always pursue. WILD CARD is about the people who are living in that game: the Homicide Team detectives.

Murder, robbery, rape, theft and violence. That is the sordid criminal news seen everyday on TV and in the newspaper. Those humane robbers with masks who used to ask us to raise our hands no longer exist. In this world, they kill first, then grab the bags of money. As to the detectives, the only thing that interests us about them is who took a bribe or is otherwise corrupt. Teenagers want to be like the gangsters in the films. The detectives have lost their dignity, their pay is low, and they get no respect. The Homicide Team detectives do the dirty work for all of us but are neglected. It is the righteousness of the detectives that captivated and inspired the director and the scriptwriter to join with the other staff members to write this story.

Many new directors are never heard from again after their debut films in Korea, and many directors from the 1980s and 1990s have now been forgotten. But director KIM Yoo-jin has been faithful to Korea films for 15 years and has become one of the foremost directors in Korea. A Promise, which had an audience of 300 million, made him a box office success. He gained further acclaim with Only Because You Are a Woman, a drama about a woman who fought a legal battle against an aggressive man and society. He earned Best Director at the Blue Dragon Awards with his family film Love is Oh Yeah! And in My Dear Geum-hong he portrayed the lives of a genius poet and an artist. The director shows us how real people live regardless of their work, space, sex or generation.

And in 2002, he who always paid attention to the human aspect gave us this powerful and developed story about the real Korean detectives, not those we are used to seeing in fancy action films. All the detectives have is their bodies. They feel paid when they are hit, are afraid when threatened with a knife and bleed when they are cut. They are just like us: human. Their passion, their naivety, and the desperateness in their hearts are the things the director wanted to portray.

Profile of the Director

He was born in 1950, graduated from Chungang University with a major in film directing, and made his debut in 1986 with HeroˇŚs Love Song. Since then, he has directed and produced many titles, including the 1998 hit, A Promise, which drew a 300 million box office audience. He has always made films about the image of human life and is now presenting WILD CARD, which shows his particularly powerful and appealing directing style.

Interview with the director:

Q: How did you begin as a director?
A: I liked films even when I was young and in college I majored in film. But I didnˇŚt plan to be a director at first, and I was a stage actor in college. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to make my debut film after graduating.

Q: What kind of film is WILD CARD?
A: ItˇŚs about a team of criminal detectives. These detectives have an extremely difficult job. They are not men with power and are actually neglected. WILD CARD shows the little-known reality of the detectives from a warm and positive point of view.

Q: What was your reason for choosing a detective story?
A: I interviewed many detectives while thinking about a detective story. I asked how they live, whether they are satisfied with their job, what they are paid and about their love affairs. And their responses were quite different than I thought they would be. Despite their difficult job, they were passionate and naive. I liked them and thatˇŚs why I decided to make their story into a film.

Q: What did you want to say to the audience through WILD CARD?
A: If you meet detectives in person, you will feel their sense of duty and professionalism. Unlike other employees, they are driven by compassion for the victims of crimes and work to search for truth. I believe young people might change their career plans to become detectives (laugh).

Q: What about the others involved in the making of the film?
A: I believe in LEE Mahn-hee as a scriptwriter and we really enjoy working together. Also I knew well IM Jae-young, the lighting director, and BYUN Hee-sung, the cinematographer, and they are true friends. But most of all, they are the best in Korea and that is what mattered the most.

Q: What about detective OH Young-dahl and JUNG Jin-young?
A: OH Young-dahl is not sly or picky but is a very understanding man. HeˇŚs tough at work but his heart is warm and he is very humane. JUNG Jin-young was just right for the role since he accurately expresses the character. ItˇŚs not easy to find an actor who has steadily trained himself from the beginning.

Q: And what about detective BANG Jay-soo and YANG Dong-geun?
A: I believe BANG Jay-soo will become OH Young-dahl when he gets old. Jay-soo is free and heˇŚs a detective because he wants to be. In the film, thereˇŚs a scene in which Jay-soo persuades the criminal, and I wonder how many actors can act like he did. He is a real method actor who has an instinct to act that kind of role. You can count on detective Jay-soo, who YANG Dong-geun portrays.