Among the most important trends of Korean films in recent years is the crime movie that reveals the secret of Korean society. Films criticizing Korean society such as RYOO Seung-wan's Veteran (2015), WOO Min-ho's Inside Men (2015), YEON Sang-ho's TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016), and PARK Jung-woo's Pandora (2016) have received great responses.

Master (2016) by CHO Ui-seok also falls into the same category. The film was inspired by a famous true persona, CHO Hee-pal. He stole over USD 34 billion from around 50,000 people through a pyramid scheme fraud and flew abroad. He has been reported dead, but nobody knows for sure. He is the model of the character that LEE Byung-hun plays in Master.

CHO made his film debut at the age of 25 in 2002 with Make It Big and has made four films in total, including The World of Silence (2006) and Cold Eyes (2013). In his work, there is always a police officer who runs after a criminal and resolves the case. Most likely, KIM Jae-myung (GANG Dong-won) and Chairman JIN of Master are the most powerful cop and shooter among his films.

I guess it has a lot to do with my childhood, growing up watching American TV shows like Starsky and Hutch. I was really into the kind of world where good guys are rewarded and bad guys are punished. Somebody is always chasing somebody, and they all do so with great ability. I was attracted to this very simple yet powerful narrative structure. In fact, I don't think I can handle any other genre. I hope the audience will say "He always makes police films, but a little differently." If I could, I would like to be a great film craftsman like Johnnie TO. (laughs) Cold Eyes depicted the police surveillance team, and Master follows the intelligence crime scene. The police film genre has a wide scope. There are so many different subject matters you can deal with, for example, there can be a bad cop, and even a criminal could catch a cop, why not! (laughs) 

When I was making my first film, I wasn’t afraid of anything. However, The World of Silence was not the kind of movie that you make when you are young. It was too safe and sophisticated, if you like, which led to failure. I thought hard about what I could do well while looking through different ideas. It was then that LEE Eu-gene, CEO of ZIP CINEMA, called me to ask for a Korean adaptation of ISAKA Kotaro's novel ‘Golden Slumber’, and she said it would be done in one single day. (laughs) In 2010, NAKAMURA Yoshihiro directed the film, which was to be remade in Korea.

Yes, in one single day! (laughs) It was only possible because I was so badly wanting to make a film. If you think about it now, it was maybe meant to be a test for me. However, the production of Golden Slumber kept being delayed. Then they asked me if there was a film that I wanted to make. I suggested a remake of Eye in the Sky by YAU Nai Hoi, which was turned into Cold Eyes. I think I really learned something in terms of filmmaking when I was making this film, adapting and shooting the film. 

I make a note whenever I come across an interesting news story, and ask myself, could it be true? Wouldn't there be anything hidden behind all this? CHO Hee-pal's story definitely got me asking such questions, and that's how it all began. The film company asked me what I wanted to do next. I said I had two ideas. One was a hard-boiled police movie, and the other was a fraudster story. Then I pulled out the story of CHO Hee-pal. He flew abroad after taking USD 34 billion and died, but I did not believe he was dead. Then they became very interested and was decided on Master. 

CHO Hee-pal is definitely in the center, but it had to be a police story. As I studied the case, I learned that a major fraudster like CHO would be investigated by the intelligence crime unit. Then I wanted to make a perfect police officer put in this role. Behind the fraudster, there has to be a massive and corrupt power. Korean cinema has introduced great detectives with a strong sense of justice, including KANG Cheol-jung (SUL Kyung-gu) in Public Enemy (2002) and SEO Do-cheol (HWANG Jung-min) in Veteran. However, it seems there has not been a detective that confronts the evil within an intelligence operation, as opposed to action. I had to give it a try.

 

It was meant to be a PG movie. There were cruel scenes too but they were later modified with computer graphics. I don't really want to push cruelty to the extreme. It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing I can do. I think it is more important to follow the story and characters rather than going for cruel and bloody action. I invited some of my friends to the premiere, and one of my friends' wives said, "I appreciate that there was no uncomfortably cruel scene." It was then that I realized I was meant to be a PG movie director. (laughs)

Korean society is changing rapidly today. All the injustice that used to be hidden deep in Korean society is now being revealed. The reality is so shocking that a fiction like Master is not as ‘exciting’ as reality if you know what I mean. 

When I planned for Master three years ago, I added all the characters that represent the corruption of Korean society such as CHO Hee-pal, big company presidents, religious leaders, politicians and so on. LEE Byung-hun also wanted to give the impression of "the evil of the evil" through the character JIN. The axes of the movie were simple. The biggest axis was the police, KIM Jae-Myung. His goal is simple: ”I'm a police officer. So I will go get the bad guy." Then the villain called JIN is caught, and General PARK (KIM Woo-bin), who is kind of the in-between, makes a redemptive change. However, by the time the movie was to be released, Korean society changed so much. In Master, Jae-Myung says, "There has to be at least one crazy person to change the world." When I was writing the scenario, I was really hoping for such a person. But now, over a million people march on the streets every week. (laughs).

At first, I was wondering whether we should make it into a two-part work. Before and after JIN's escape. In fact, the movie is very much divided into two parts with that event. Before he absconds the film is full of realistic events. It might be a little boring, but I had to explain the characters and set the story in motion. Investigations resume after the escape, and KIM and JIN are re-introduced as they move to the Philippines. The tone of the movie also changes at that point. The first half wanted to show the feeling of 'reality of Korea'. And the second half is a kind of fantasy. It is also where the energy accumulated in the first half finally explodes. 

However, that is why GANG chose this film in the first place. In his previous film, A Violent Prosecutor (2016), GANG played a light and shallow persona like KIM does in this film. He wanted something different this time, and then he got hold of this scenario. GANG is a character hunter, you know. (laughs) He has never played the same kind of character twice. He always wanted to play a cop, but they all looked the same. Then he met Jae-myung of Master, who was clearly different. He must have felt that "This cop seems different, and I want to represent him like this if I was to play this character." It was not an easy challenge. I asked him to repress his emotion and deliver quick dialogue. It must have been a very hard job. 

Actually, I wanted to shoot it on the road using a flying camera. But the producer said it would be too obvious. He asked me why we would come overseas when we can shoot the same thing in Korea as well. So that is how the climax car chase scene was made. It wasn’t easy. We had to get permission from all the residents and the cost went higher. I was just hoping it wouldn't rain. (laughs)