I'm someone who has a singular goal in making films; I want to tell a story. There are certain stories that I want to tell. Hollywood's never really been the ultimate goal for me.
To go into more specifics regarding actors, whether they're from Korea or the U.S., all actors know if they are loved by the director. When they feel that love from the director, they respond by giving a great performance on camera. Also, everyone on set - the crew, the actors - they were aware of the film's message and its broad theme, so these big issues were never discussed on set.
Initially, before I came to Hollywood, I thought that the language barrier would be the biggest challenge, but I realized that actors all around the world, regardless of language, are all the same.
I prefer to work the old-fashioned way. I trie to do everything or most of his action sequences practically, because I feel that while added effects or the VFX process allows for flashier sequences, I feel that it lacks the energy we see in practical effects.
I'd like to give the audience what they've always wanted to see and also I want to give the audience what they've never seen. It's these two things I'm striving for.
To be honest, I would have to say that there was a certain burden in working with Arnold, a big action star. I am aware that Arnold is loved by the American audience, but rather than focusing on working with Arnold, what I focused on was expressing the character, Sheriff Owens, through Arnold the actor and knowing that Arnold and my idea about Sheriff Owens coincided and that it was about Owens protecting a certain value and justice, I focused more on that aspect that helped me to be more comfortable in working with Arnold.
Interestingly, my first director's cut was an hour and forty-one minutes. Then, the studio actually wanted to add more to the story, so we went all the way up to an hour and forty-seven minutes. After that, I made some additional cuts and now we are where we are.
But when there were certain moments or scenes that required a very specific nuance or performance, I myself would act out the scene or the sequence and that would inspire the actors. Of course, I can't really express emotions on camera, but I was very active in showing a certain action or a blocking for an actor. I would also participate in certain stunts myself and because of that, I would get bruises or cuts on my knees and elbows.
