While being pursued by a traitor, Muchi (Kang Ha-neul), the bandit leader, encounters Haerang (Han Hyo-joo), a pirate chief, and saves his life. Even though there is no space for pirates to travel back and forth, he does not give up and proudly displays his role as the bandit’s leader.
Even though he does his part with his excellent swordsmanship skills, which includes the self-proclaimed ‘best sword of Goryeo,’ even the rogues often turn their backs on their absurd appearance at the crucial moment, but in the end, they fold and follow Haerang into the perilous sea in search of the lost royal treasure.
Muchi is played by actor Kang Ha-neul, who alternates between warmth, seriousness, and comedy in the marine action adventure ‘Pirates: Goblin Flag’ (Director Kim Jeong-hoon), but displays his overpowering swordsmanship talents, referring to himself as Goryeo’s best blade. I’ve returned.
Kang Ha-neul, Han Hyo-joo as Haerang, and Kwon Sang-woo as Bu Heung-soo discussed the reasons for converting into a cunning character in an online interview done prior of the film’s recent release.
Kang Ha-neul was eager to board the ‘pirate ship’ as soon as he viewed the screenplay
“The first section was fantastic. And I believe there are aspects of the subject of pirates that I find intriguing. I was already interested in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ series or ‘Pirates: Bandits at Sea’ by seniors before I learned about them. I came upon it because it piqued my attention. “I believe I enjoy this adventure genre.”
In 2014, the director and cast of ‘Pirates,’ a popular Korean-style marine action adventure, were replaced, and the film was rearranged into a new look. Kang Ha-neul takes up the character of Muchi in ‘Pirates: Goblin Flag,’ which has a larger scale and more colourful spectacles than the previous film.
When Kang Ha-neul first saw the scenario, he imagined himself aboard a pirate ship cruising the seas in search of buried treasures. The ‘Haerang’ persona was another factor that drew him to the pirate ship.
“Even if he can’t do muchi,” he continued, “Haerang is so awesome that he can play tiki taka (Spanish for ping-pong balls that come and leave).” He said, “I thought it would be fun.”
Finding a happy medium between seriousness and comedy
The first step in boarding the pirate ship and playing with Haerang and Tiki Taka was to sketch Muchi correctly. Muchi was reminded of Han Bi-gwang, the main character in the cartoon ‘Fiery-blooded Gang-ho,’ when Kang Ha-neul viewed the situation. “When he was fighting, I thought he was a character who could represent both polarities brilliantly, and when he wasn’t, I felt he was a figure who could portray both sides of the blade beautifully.” “I had a meeting with the director and the makeup guys because I felt it would be wonderful to seem like a character that can do things.”
As a result, the long-haired Muchi was transformed into the current chubby-haired character. Kang Ha-neul had to perm for 3-4 hours every two weeks as a result of this. “It was the most challenging portion of the effort I put in for the role Muchi,” he joked. Muchi, who is humorous and free-spirited but occasionally gets into serious conflicts, quickly becomes funny, and he emanates the distinctive energy of a person in love in front of Haerang. There were a lot of concerns about this because we had to depict multiple elements of a character in a 125-minute film.
“When we fight, we fight very well,” Kang Ha-neul remarked of the multifaceted character, “and when we don’t, if we express extreme things, it becomes a fairly bland character.” So I attempted to reach the halfway point. “I gave each cut a lot of thought.”
Hyo-joo Han, a dedicated worker, collaborates with Kwon Sang-woo, a master of action
From the time she first saw the scenario, Kang Ha-neul fell in love with the role of Hae-rang, performed by Han Hyo-joo. Danju Haerang, the owner of a world-famous pirate ship, is the ideal pirate commander, with sound judgement, charisma, agile martial arts skills, and a loving heart that cares more for the crew than anyone else. In both acting and action, Han Hyo-joo successfully embodied the role of Hae-rang.
“I believe Hyojoo noona spent practically all of his time in action school.” That was a fantastic point. I always practised and matched whenever I went to action school, and she even tried to learn how to use a sword on the field. I thought Hyojoo noona was cooler than Haerang when I saw it.”
No matter where she joined the action scene at any given time, Han Hyo-joo always warmed up her body so she could digest it without overdoing it, as Kang Ha-neul observed. “I thought a lot about thoroughly and really digging into the role that I played in that image,” he recalled.
Kwon Sang-woo is the actor he admires and admires. In this work, Kwon Sang-woo, who played rebel Bu Heung-soo in ‘Pirates: Goblin Flag’ and was the first villain, would present a swordsmanship action rather than a naked action. Kwon Sang-role woo’s Bu Heung-soo, in particular, is a figure who opposes Muchi, and the confrontation and action between Muchi and Rev. Heung-soo is one of the highlights of the film.
“I’m not someone who can talk about breathing when it comes to action,” Kang Ha-neul said when asked about breathing by Kwon Sang-woo.
“Sangwoo hyung and I need to talk about breathing.” I had the impression that I was gradually learning from Gosu. In each of my works, I had activities as well, but when I executed them well, I felt like Sangwoo hyung provided me power. It was the fact that he was exceptionally skilled at spontaneously subtracting. It’s not something you’ve learned; it’s something you’ve always done. When it comes to action, I believe Sangwoo hyung is unrivalled.”
In this way, Kang Ha-neul depicted Muchi in ‘Pirates: Goblin Flag’ on screen with zeal, collaborating with characters with diverse charms and relying on action and imagination in front of the blue screen. It was ‘teamwork,’ as he put it, that allowed a muchi to fully transform into a muchi. ‘Pirates: Goblin Flag’ is also about teamwork, according to him.
