Why top actor Jung Woo-sung opted to give Gong Yoo ‘The Silent Sea’ lead role

Bae Doona (left) and Gong Yoo —PHOTOS COURTESY OF NETFLIX

A perilous trip is never meant to be comfortable—just like the one taken by Capt. Han Yun-jae (Gong Yoo), astrobiologist Song Ji-an (Bae Doona) and a team of experts in Netflix’s eight-episode South Korean sci-fi series “The Silent Sea.”

In the year 2075, Yun-jae and Ji-an are tasked to retrieve an “unknown” sample at an abandoned research facility on the moon. There’s one problem, however—it’s a mission that is shrouded in mystery and secrecy.

It’s this same story, albeit in short-film format, that swept actor-producer Jung Woo-sung off his feet after he saw director Choi Hang-yong’s film at a festival in 2014. Woo-sung then toyed with the idea of expanding its story with the help of screenwriter Park Eun-kyo (“Mother”).

But why didn’t Woo-sung act in it instead? After all, the dashing 48-year-old actor-producer isn’t one of K-drama’s most enduring superstars for nothing, whose past projects included high-profile titles that teamed him up with formidable leading ladies like Jun Ji-hyun aka Gianna Jun (“Daisy”), Son Ye-jin (“A Moment to Remember”) and former squeeze Zhang Ziyi (“Musa” aka “The Warrior”).

Even Yoo admitted that part of the reason he ended his five-year hiatus as an actor in a drama series was Woo-sung himself.

“Woo-sung is like the celebrity of celebrities,” noted the 41-year-old Yoo. “I wanted to be like him. I didn’t know him well before ‘The Silent Sea,’ but now, he’s like a brother to me. Because he’s also an actor himself, he knew how to make us comfortable on set.

“You know, acting or shooting could be tiring, but because we had such a perfect executive producer, Woo-sung’s presence was a huge morale booster for all of us. For any actor my age, especially for men, he is an idol.” Woo-sung did consider acting in the show.

“As an actor, you do want to be a part of something like this onscreen,” shared Woo-sung during a press conference before we spoke to him more closely in a roundtable interview. “In fact, about seven years ago, I did explore versions of the story where I was the main lead. But all those ideas were necessary steps that had to be taken in order to visualize the completed version that we see today.

Jung Woo-sung

“But I will tell you now that I would never have been able to play the role of Captain Han the way Gong Yoo captured the character. And I truly believe that the role belonged to Yoo from the get-go.”

Our Q&A with Woo-sung:

What are the major themes being tackled in the series that would make “The Silent Sea” relevant to viewers today?

The series doesn’t just focus on one theme. For example, in the near future, because of climate change, the earth can become desolate and depleted of resources. We may need to take a journey to overcome that lack of resources. “The Silent Sea” also shows what could happen if we take everything for granted—and that’s one strong message that the series wants to convey.

What was it like working with your fine cast?

Bae Doona is the kind of actor who lives in her role. She stayed in character the whole time she was on set. It’s very taxing on the mind to suppress your own emotions, but she handled it like a pro. Gong Yoo, on the other hand, played a big part in bringing everyone together as a team. He showed leadership, not just in character, but also on set. He’s an actor who knows exactly when or how much his character should stand out in a given moment.

For his part, Lee Joon took great responsibility for his role and kept things candid and simple. Kim Sun-young, whom I got to know while working on another film, is an actor with unique charms. Lee Mu-saeng reflects carefully on his performance and revises it to get closer to the character in the script. Lee Sung-wook is a good actor with lots of energy and wit. He can ad-lib lines as if they were in the script and deliver them with weight.

Lee Joon (left) and Lee Mu-saeng

Here’s the thing: Even a dynamite cast with lots of star power needs to be in harmony in order to synergize. In that sense, the cast of “The Silent Sea” had a great vibe that is seen onscreen. I found the time spent watching them in action quite valuable.

How different is the challenge you get from acting compared to producing?

When you’re an actor, you just have to focus on your role and set the character aside when the camera stops rolling. But if you’re an executive producer, you have to oversee the whole process from the very beginning up to its release, so the responsibility falls quite heavily on you. So, the satisfaction you get out of it is also very different.

You produced and acted in “Remember You” five years ago. Could you talk about the hurdles of wearing multiple hats in any given production?

The good thing about being only the producer is that I can really see the whole picture and focus on every facet of the production. But if I work as both actor and producer, as was the case with “Remember You,” I sometimes get too immersed in my role that I lose sight of the bigger picture.

So, I don’t know if I could say that playing one role is easier than doing both. But I certainly think it’s because of my experiences with “Remember You” that I was able to do a better job as executive producer of “The Silent Sea.”

What did you find most challenging about producing South Korea’s first sci-fi series about outer space?

Everything was a challenge! And doing every shot was like starting from level zero, and everything had to be done on a trial-and-error basis. But while it was truly difficult, I also thought it was a fun challenge to hurdle, otherwise I would look more tired by now (laughs).

And because the movie was the first of its kind in Korea, it actually gave me some freedom to take risks and make some bold decisions. INQ