“The zombies in ‘Gunche’ move as a single colony, updating in real-time via a network. I felt a shiver of excitement when I first read the script, and I think it’s a point that audiences in theaters are really loving too.”
Actress Jun Ji-hyun, who plays the lead bioengineer Kwon Se-jung in Director Yeon Sang-ho’s new film ‘Gunche’ (released on the 21st), shared the movie’s unique characteristics during an interview at a cafe in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 26th. She added, “Unlike traditional zombies that move individually in an uncontrollable state, these were incredibly charming.”
‘Gunche’ introduces a new zombie universe where individuals share senses and intelligence to threaten humans. The film surpassed 2 million cumulative viewers by its fifth day of release. This is the fastest pace to reach 2 million this year, even outpacing the box office pace of ‘The King and the Clown’, which reached the same milestone on its 12th day and totaled 16.88 million viewers.
Before its domestic release, ‘Gunche’ premiered in the ‘Midnight Screening’ section of the Cannes Film Festival on the 16th, receiving praise locally. It offered a fresh perspective by overturning the stereotype of zombies simply chasing and biting humans. The film tells the story of a mass infection outbreak in a Seoul skyscraper. The infected initially crawl like animals but gradually begin to walk on two feet, identify humans, form groups, and attack survivors. Notably, the infected move as a colony rather than individuals, utilizing ‘collective intelligence.’
‘Gunche’ also marks Jun Ji-hyun’s return to the big screen after 11 years, her first since the 2015 film ‘Assassination’. When asked by reporters about the box office success and her ‘target viewer count,’ she laughed, saying, “It’s been a long time since I’ve met so many audiences through a movie, but human greed knows no bounds.” She added, “I’d be grateful just to break even, but if many people come to see it, it will be meaningful for everyone involved in the film.”
She also expressed her affection for her character, Kwon Se-jung, a bioengineer and university professor. In the story, survivors and the infected are mixed within a single building due to the terrorist acts of genius biologist Seo Young-chul (Koo Kyo-hwan), and she leads the plot by making lonely decisions and judgments. “Rather than making Kwon Se-jung seem like a special person, my goal was to make the audience believe in and follow Se-jung’s choices,” she said with a smile, adding, “I even wondered if I could actually act like Kwon Se-jung in real life.”
Jun Ji-hyun, who worked with Director Yeon Sang-ho for the first time through ‘Gunche’, is a huge fan who has watched all of his works. This is why she decided to appear in the film “without even reading” the script as soon as it arrived. Expressing her desire to work on Director Yeon’s next project, she picked ‘action’ as the genre she wants to try. Although she played the lead in a zombie movie, action elements were intentionally restrained or excluded because of her role as a ‘professor.’ Jun Ji-hyun explained, “During filming, many people mentioned it would be awkward for Kwon Se-jung, a PhD in bioengineering, to suddenly be skilled in action. We agreed to hold back on flashy action.” She added, “I have a wish to properly perform action scenes with the director.”
