THE South Korean crime thriller The Outlaws was a standout hit in 2017, and introduced the character of Ma Seok-do, a hard-nosed detective in Seoul’s Major Crimes Unit, played by Ma Dong-seok.
The film saw Detective Ma and his unit try and stop a turf war between Chinese and Korean gangs, and was praised for its high stakes action and gritty realism.
A sequel to the film called The Roundup was released this May, and is currently South Korea’s highest grossing film. Ma and other key members of the cast reprised their roles, including Choi Gwi-Hwa as Captain Jeon, Heo Dong-won as Detective Oh Dong-gyun and Ha Jun as Detective Kang Hong-seok.
In addition, Park Ji-hwan returns as Jang I-soo, a gangster from the first film who became a fan favourite.
In The Roundup, Detective Ma travels to Vietnam to extradite a suspect, but soon finds himself embroiled in a series of murders of Korean tourists, and must hunt down a ruthless killer named Kang Hae-sang, played by Son Sok-ku.
Son has been making a name for himself with various projects in recent years. He takes on the challenge of becoming a memorable villain who could make a lasting impression on the audience for years to come.
In the sequel, both Detective Ma and Son go head-to-head, in a deadly no-holds-barred battle for justice. This time, will Detective Ma be able to catch the killer?
In this interview transcript provided by tvN Asia, Ma talks about his latest role and what fans can look forward to in the film:
What experience will the audience have when watching The Roundup?
“The Roundup is a story about detectives making the city free of crime. We have a ferocious new villain and a great line-up of characters. I hope you can see how criminals are always brought to justice.”
You participated in the planning and production of the film. What did you prioritise?
“Many people talk about ‘cinematic universes’ these days. In my opinion, sequel films need to be different from its first film. So adding a twist to the story is necessary. But the essence of The Roundup is being realistic. I studied real crime cases and received many references from detectives. I used some references which I can incorporate into the film to show that criminals will always be brought to justice. With that in mind, I put some twists and plots in the sequel.
“I discussed it with director Lee Sang-yong and we studied the story together with the actors to come up with the film. We are preparing for more films in this series and we are trying to show something fresh in every film.”
The Outlaws was full of witty ad-libs, are there a lot of improvisations in The Roundup as well?
“Well, the lines that seemed improvised are actually part of the script and what seems to be part of the script is an improvisation. You can expect a script and ad-libs that seem like the other.”
Many people have been waiting for a mind-blowing crime action film.
“The Roundup has a bigger scale than The Outlaws, and one of the best things about The Outlaws is that all the characters are full of life. This time there are more characters with even greater punch. You will have fun just watching these actors play their roles. You mentioned mind-blowing action. Actually, that’s the film’s kick. Son Suk-ku has made some exceptional action scenes, you will see how great Suk-ku is in action scenes.”
What does the character Ma Seok-do mean to you?
“Ma Seok-do, as a character, has a lot of ‘me’ in it. First of all, it was my childhood dream to become a policeman. And as an actor, I always want to do detective or action films, but those roles didn’t really come to me. So, I thought ‘I should create one’ when I participated in producing this film.
“I spent half of my life with boxing and the other half with acting. I wanted to show some action in this film. To me, the character of Ma Seok-do is like myself. Both the film and the character have a huge meaning to me.”
Are there any new action scenes from Detective Ma?
“I used to do boxing for a long time. So most of my action scenes are based on boxing. But as a detective, I need to show more dominance and defend myself. So you can expect diverse action scenes that are gratifying and satisfying. Some scenes require Judo techniques so I asked my close friend Kim Dong-hyun to teach me Judo, and applied what I learnt ... I guess that will be another interesting part of the action scenes.”
How is your chemistry with Son?
“It is my first time filming with Suk-ku. But I can tell how carefully he studied his character. He always has more questions for his characters and he always studies. He put in so much effort. I appreciate it as a co-star and producer of the film. It is my first time, but it felt so natural to work with him. He is an amazing actor.”
Any message that you would like to share with fans abroad?
“Thank you for watching my films. You are even watching Korean films through subtitles. I’m doing my best to return your love through great movies.”
Watch The Roundup on tvN Movies (Astro CH395 (HD) & Astro GO, unifi tv CH211 (HD) & unifi playTV) from Nov 30 at 10pm.
