It was while Song Joong-ki was filming the hit South Korean movie A Werewolf Boy with director Jo Sung-hee in 2011 that the actor first heard about the project Space Sweepers.
Jo had been developing the story for a film set in space since 2009 after a conversation he had with a friend about all the defunct human-made objects left floating in space.
It was then that Jo had a thought about workers in charge of cleaning up the space junk... or, in other words, space sweepers.
Now, both Song and Jo proudly present the first Korean space sci-fi flick to a global audience.
Boasting of a grounded storyline, a number of impressive action sequences set in space and likeable characters, Space Sweepers is now available on Netflix after its theatrical release was delayed twice due to the pandemic.
In a virtual press meet on Feb 2 that StarLifestyle participated in, Song described the film as an action adventure that is fun and heartwarming.
It centres on a group of misfits onboard a spaceship called Victory that collects space junk.
During one of their hauls, they end up picking up a weapon of mass destruction – which is in the form of a little girl – setting off events that would change their lives forever.
The 35-year-old star said: “When I first learned that director Jo was planning to create a sci-fi movie set in space, I thought it would be a really interesting and amazing project to be part of.
“I signed on immediately without even reading the script when director Jo proposed the film to me almost a decade later.”
The Descendants Of The Sun’s leading man added: “After reading the script, I thought... I have to do this. I can’t let anyone else play (the character) Tae-ho.”
The elites were able to escape Earth and build a new civilisation in space led by a genius engineer, James Sullivan (played by British actor Richard Armitage).
Meanwhile those left behind live in terrible conditions, either working on Earth or on-board spacecrafts scouring for space debris trying to earn some cash to fill their empty pockets.
Tae-ho is one such person. A capable spaceship pilot, Tae-ho has a tragic past which keeps leading him down the wrong path.
“Tae-ho is not the most skilled at communicating with other people and he comes off as a selfish person,” Song told StarLifestyle.
“However, that’s not who he really is. Deep down he wants to be with other people. Buried even deeper in his heart is the yearning to be part of a family.”
What Tae-ho doesn’t realise at first is that he has a family with the Victory crew members – the stern Captain Jang (Kim Tae-ri), the bad-tempered Tiger Park (Jin Sun-kyu) and a witty robot named Bubs (voiced by Yoo Hai-jin).
“When I read about Tae-ho in the script, I thought of the word ‘devastated’ because he’s lost all hope in his life. While I was filming the movie I was in a similar state, ” Song revealed.
When Space Sweepers started filming in 2019, Song’s divorce from actress Song Hye-kyo had just been finalised.
“But through a series of events, Tae-ho manages to pull himself together and find hope with the help of the other crew members. I tried to convey that change the best I could, the affection that Tae-ho has for his crew members, ” explained Song.
Actress Kim (Mr Sunshine) agreed: “The character Tae-ho goes through the biggest change during the course of the film, which lends the story its heart.”
It was very much the fact that the sci-fi film is character-driven about a group of underdogs that appealed to the cast. Well, besides the space element, of course, which was something new in the Korean film industry.
Actor Jin (Kingdom) said the story and the characters are so relatable despite being set in space.
“When you think about a space movie you immediately think of the vast and very far away outer space. But in Space Sweepers, this outer space world is very near to us, ” Jin said.
Yoo (The Pirates) concurred: “We tend to think of cutting-edge technology when it comes space. However, in our film, you will see a lot of familiar things – like tools that we use on a daily basis – that the movie is going to be a lot more relatable than you think.
“That is what differentiates our film from other space-set movies.”
According to director Jo, that was his intent from the start when writing the script. He wanted to focus on everyday problems that an ordinary person would struggle with like paying the bills and bank loans.
This realistic approach is encapsulated perfectly in one scene where two crew members are floating in zero gravity working on the spaceship Victory with simple tools such as the spanner.
“In Space Sweepers, I wanted to give that vital and awesome mission to someone else – I wanted to put Koreans in charge of the mission, especially people who are considered nobodies.
“Young workers doing laborious jobs to live from hand to mouth.
“Regular people who had to look up and simply watch the shining success of those at the top. I wanted to create an amazing moment where these people save our planet on behalf of mankind.”
To further enhance this vision, he made the interior of the spaceship “filled with miscellaneous scrap, invoking the image of a tiny room at a junk store, and everything is worn out”.
Although grounded in reality, Space Sweepers does utilise a lot of special effects to create its world.
It is stated in the film’s notes that more than 2,000 visual effects are seamlessly incorporated into the film, including South Korea’s first robot character on film brought to life via motion capture technology.
“It wasn’t easy, ” admitted Jo of directing a film loaded with special effects.
“I was lucky enough to have a lot of VFX experts and concept artists in the team with me boosting each other’s creativity in completing the film. The cast members were also part of the collaborative process.
“I always went to set feeling excited and looked forward to what new ideas we can achieve on that day, ” Jo mentioned.
Song said that one of the biggest challenges for the actors working on Space Sweepers was figuring out how a scene would look as they filmed against green screen as this is a new experience to them.
“We had to rely on our imagination to pull it off. But, having seen the final product now, we’re all amazed how it turned out.
“Most importantly, (watching) a Korean film that features a space chase scene is just so exciting to me. I hope it will blow away the viewers as well, ” said Song.
While Space Sweepers has the claim of being the first Korean space flick, Jo was quick to point out that there are other similar quality space-themed Korean movies in production at the moment.
“I’m confident South Korea would be making more sci-fi movies set in space moving forward.”
Meanwhile, there is more to come where Space Sweepers is concerned.
A webtoon based on the film was released last year and it was reported that there are plans to expand the film’s intellectual property through various story formats after the release of the film.
When asked if he personally would like to explore the characters more in the future, Jo said this to StarLifestyle: “Well, if you’re asking if I’m planning a sequel for this film, I would have to say that, at this point, there isn’t a story or a narrative that I’ve personally envisioned (with them).
“But I am also curious about what happens to them after this narrative. I’m very much looking forward to meeting the characters again and excited to see if something else comes up (for the characters).”
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