Go to contents

Korean sci-fi movie Space Sweepers to hit the theaters next month

Korean sci-fi movie Space Sweepers to hit the theaters next month

Posted August. 19, 2020 07:46,   

Updated August. 19, 2020 07:46

한국어

Korean moviegoers are familiar with Hollywood sci-fi movies such as Gravity, Interstellar, and Martian, where astronauts in spacesuits appear in the vast, jet-black outer space. But there were no Korean sci-fi movies about outer space.

“Space Sweepers” by director Cho Sung-hee set to be released on Sept. 23 is the most eagerly-anticipated Korean film this year. The Korean sci-fi movie is a story about the crewman of the Seungri-ho, a space debris collecting spaceship, discovering the robot Dorothy, a weapon of mass destruction, and making a plan to sell it for big profits. Director Cho, actor Song Joong-ki (acting as pilot Tae-ho), Kim Tae-ri (acting as captain Jang), Jin Seon-kyu (acting as engineer Tiger Park), and Yoo Hae-jin (playing as robot Updong-i) attended an online press conference of the movie on Tuesday.

Director Cho came up with the idea of the Seungri-ho 10 years ago while talking with a friend. He invested the past 10 years writing the scenario of the movie. He even thought about the t-shirt the characters would wear in the movie.

“Ten years ago, my friend told me that space junk is moving very fast and even creates accidents. Everything started from an idea about space workers who clean up space junks” said the director. “I wrote the scenario, imagining what would happen if Koreans, who are known to survive wherever they go in the world, become space workers.”

Song Joong-ki said he briefly heard about the Seungri-ho when he worked with director Cho for the movie “A Werewolf Boy” in 2012.

Like Song said, the characters in the movie look like they are fresh out of a cartoon. Kim Tae-ri is wears Boeing sunglasses with her hair combed back and Jin Seon-kyu has braid hair. Song Joong-ki, who wears a faded jumper, looks far from a typical astronaut.


Jae-Hee Kim jetti@donga.com