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Cast of ‘Island’ Come Together For Global Launch

Kim Nam-Gil, Lee Da-Hee, Cha Eun-Woo, and Sung Joon talk about their characters, the challenges of their different roles, and working with director Bae Jong 

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Metro.Style Team

All eyes are on the first Prime Video Original Series, <strong><em>Island</em></strong>, starring <strong>Kim Nam-gil, Lee Da-hee, <a href="https://metro.style/culture/film-and-tv/your-ultimate-cha-eun-woo-drama-guide/31323" target="_blank">Cha Eun-woo</a></strong>, and <strong>Sung Joon</strong>. In the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV1nFPpSTcc" target="_blank">global press conference in Seoul</a>, they presented the four actors along with director <strong>Bae Jong</strong>, who gave more insights into the much-anticipated series.<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/6ce63757-9aed-4a8c-98c3-b1f471120f58_island-primevideo-chaeunwoo-article-banner.gif" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/></span></span></div><div><br/></div>Island is a fantasy epic about the fight between good and evil. Set in modern day South Korea, it follows four characters that call come together in Jeju island. There’s Van (<strong>Kim Nam-gil</strong>), an immortal demonhunter who has protected the world for thousands of years. He is said to have a fated past with Miho (<strong>Lee Da-hee</strong>), who is a chaebol heiress in her current reincarnation. Miho is said to be destined to save the world. Unfortunately, she has no recollection of her past life and how to awaken these powers. Because of her identity, she is chased by lust demons, which is why she comes across the swashbuckling black suit-wearing Van. Joining them is the young exorcist Yohan (<a href="https://metro.style/culture/film-and-tv/your-ultimate-cha-eun-woo-drama-guide/31323" target="_blank">Cha Eun-woo</a>), renowned for his skills, and has been sent to protect Miho. And then of course, Guntan (<strong>Sung Jun</strong>), a demonhunter who grew up with Van, but took on a vastly different path.<div><br/></div><div class="youtube-iframe"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WbUs37NTt70" title="YouTube video player" frameBorder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p>Beyond the screen, Island is based on a manhwa written by Youn In-wan and illustrated by Yang Kung-il, which began in 1997. This was then serialized into a webtoon, and soon became immensely popular. </p><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CmdetgYPtRv/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:16px"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CmdetgYPtRv/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank"> <div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;align-items:center"> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:40px;margin-right:14px;width:40px"><br/></div> <div 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translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"><br/></div> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"><br/></div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"><br/></div> <div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"><br/></div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"> <div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"><br/></div> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"><br/></div> <div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"><br/></div></div></div> <div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"><br/></div> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"><br/></div></div></a><div style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CmdetgYPtRv/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Metro.Style (@metrodotstyle)</a></div></div></blockquote> </div><div><br/></div><br/><p>“Hi everyone, it’s so cold outside,” says Lee Da-hee, whom we previously admired for her powerful female roles in<em> The Beauty Inside</em> and <em>Search: WWW</em>. “I think throughout my career, this is the biggest conference in terms of the number of journalists here,” she says with a tinge of wonder.</p><div><br/></div><p>This press conference was indeed one for the books. Held at the Conrad in Seoul, the press conference was held in a packed ballroom full of journalists, content producers, photographers, and videographers, who were looking forward to knowing more about this<a href="https://www.primevideo.com/" target="_blank"> Prime Video </a>original.  </p><div><strong>Taking on the project</strong></div><p>The director and cast share their excitement and reluctance in taking on the role. Director <strong>Bae Jong</strong>, who is more known for his movies such as the suspense-murder <em>Fabricated City </em>(2017) and the war-drama <em>Welcome to Dongmakgol (</em>2005), revealed that he “wanted to say no at first.” </p><div><br/></div><p>“This is indeed my very first drama series [as sole director], and before I worked on the drama series, there are some things that I look at specifically when I choose a particular project,” he shares. “I liked that Island had a great and very original story,” he shares, “but when you an IP (intellectual property) like that you get a lot of criticism from fans [of the original work].”</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/e915494d-2124-4f21-9368-b28c66064d61_metro.style island amazon prime video024.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/></span></span></div><div><br/></div>Actor Kim Nam-gil had similar reservations. The actor of <em>The Fiery Priest</em> and <em>Queen Seon Duk</em> was said to have rejected the role twice. “There’s a burden taking a series out of a story like this. I’ve long been a fan, and as director Bae Jong said, this story, this IP had such a huge and solid fan base that no matter what we do, it felt like it was a big thing. It was a huge risk we had to take. I truly hope you’ll like because I was concerned and worried about disappointing the fans,” he said. But then, it seems as if his doubts were put aside, because he took the plunge. “I woke up all of sudden and found myself in Jeju shooting a scene with my castmates,” he shares.<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/c53bb553-8e33-419d-8891-3822062c2c75_metro.style island amazon prime video025.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/></span></span></div>In the case of Lee Da-hee, she was very excited to be part of the show. “I was begging to be in the show. I really wanted to do it well,” she said about her eagerness to join the project. “I was also worried about whether or not we could make it work, and be loyal to the original. I wanted to to it the best way we could,” she says.<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/3c6d8250-c968-40b0-8c5d-ff63ca9b41d3_metro.style island amazon prime video026.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/></span></span></div><div><br/></div>Actor Cha Eun Woo, best known for his roles in <em>True Beauty, Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung</em>, and <em>My ID is Gangnam Beauty</em>, apart from being the visual and vocalist of Astro, began with the script in mind. “I read the script first. I really liked this character. He appealed to me. I was drawn to him,” he shares. “Then I met with the director and we had so many conversations. I also met with Nam-gil, and Nam-gil persuaded me to join the team. I was grateful for that. I was grateful to be part of the project,” he adds.<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/eee38729-cf50-4311-a4e8-529201c55077_metro.style island amazon prime video028.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/></span></span></div><p>The reservations of Sung Joon (<em>Casting a Spell to You</em> and <em>High Society</em>) stemmed from the role itself. “This character is different from the characters I’ve played in the past,” he shares. In this very physical role, he was worried about his health, but Nam-gil encouraged him, convincing him to take on this role of a lifetime.</p><div> </div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/aaf5f2b8-696b-46d4-87f7-773e08cb23b6_metro.style island amazon prime video027.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/></span></span></div>With these revelations, director Joon shares that the casting process was very different. “It was a unique experience because it was the first time I had actors who raised their hands and said they wanted to do the role, he reveals.<div class="article-content" itemProp="articleBody"><div class="media-content"><div class="slider-for"><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/87bc3beb-afe1-404a-85b7-f62338efd1e3_metro.style island amazon prime video012.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/a9dd920d-4b6e-45ef-8f77-e7d7518c7fda_metro.style island amazon prime video001.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/f751ecd2-6afa-4086-bb67-3df9155a8557_metro.style island amazon prime video002.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/e0cc708c-f953-4867-a955-086d2a7b3067_metro.style island amazon prime video003.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/405799f0-bf06-42e5-97db-89248064de2f_metro.style island amazon prime video004.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" 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