The production report for the movie ‘Wild Thing’ was held on the morning of the 7th at Lotte Cinema Konkuk University in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. Director Son Jae-gon and actors Gang Dong-won, Um Tae-gu, Park Ji-hyun, and Oh Jung-se attended the event.
‘Wild Thing’ is a comedy about Triangle, a three-member co-ed dance group that once dominated the music scene but disbanded overnight after an unexpected incident. Now, 20 years later, they embark on a reckless challenge to seize a chance at a comeback.
Introducing the film, Director Son shared, “I researched idol materials from the 1990s to the 2000s. When deciding on the final style and creating episodes, I didn’t bring over anything too specific.”
Gang Dong-won, Um Tae-gu, and Park Ji-hyun come together as the three members of Triangle. Gang Dong-won, who plays Hyun-woo (transitioning from a ‘dance machine’ to a ‘livelihood machine’), said, “I always thought being an idol must be hard, but while filming this project, I’ve come to respect them. I’ve always liked comedies, and the script was especially great. The tight ending and the story leading up to it were so entertaining.”
Regarding his attempt at headspins and breakdancing, he admitted, “I practiced for five months. My understanding of hip-hop was almost zero. I thought it would be hilarious to see someone like me doing a headspin. I wanted it to be strangely and sadly funny.” He added, “Breakdancing is a dance that defies gravity. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever learned.”
Um Tae-gu plays Sang-gu, who went from a ‘storm rapper’ to a ‘failed rapper.’ Um explained, “He’s a character with high passion but lacking skill. I practiced rapping as often as possible before filming. There was a teacher at JYP, so I visited whenever I had time for about five months. During the stage scenes, I performed with the mindset that I’d die if I wasn’t cute.”
Park Ji-hyun plays Do-mi, who shifted from ‘absolute charm’ to a symbol of ‘absolute wealth.’ Park explained, “On screen, she’s pure and cute, but she has a twist—she’s a ‘cool woman.’ To portray the younger Do-mi, I got a tan to capture that idol vibe. Since she’s the main vocal, I worked on my vocal projection and watched many girl group videos from that era.”
Director Son spoke again about Triangle’s debut song ‘Love is,’ which has been a hot topic since its pre-release. He noted, “The principle was to create a song that evokes the atmosphere of that time while still sounding good to current audiences and being pleasant to hear for the first time in a theater.”
Recalling the music video shoot, Gang Dong-won said, “We filmed it at the very end after the movie shoot. Since we had already done many stage scenes, it wasn’t too difficult.” Park Ji-hyun teased, “The second album has a social-critical and cyber concept.”
Finally, Gang Dong-won encouraged fans, saying, “Everyone has a moment they want to shine, so I think people will be able to relate to the movie. Please come to the theater and enjoy it.”
Meanwhile, ‘Wild Thing’ is set to be released on June 3rd.
