It has been almost four years since an uneducated grown-up gangster went to high school in the 2001 hit comedy "My Boss, My Hero". Now the hero is back at high school again, this time as a student teacher for the sequel.
"I really wanted to star in this film. I have a particularly strong attachment and affection for the original since it was the first successful film that I starred in", actor Jeong Joon-ho said Monday during a news conference at Kyung Hee University in Suwon, Kyonggi Province, where his upcoming comedy film "My Boss, My Hero 2" was being filmed.
For the film, he even turned down the request to star in the sequel to his 2002 hit gangster comedy "Marrying the Mafia", which turned out to be the most successful comedy film this year.
"My Boss, My Hero 2" will keep the hilarious basic and key elements from the original _ the irony that a gangster goes to school, tries to mingle with his under-aged classmates and ends up solving problems existing in the educational system _ but it will show an upgraded sense of humor, Jung said.
Although new director Kim Dong-won is now in charge of the sequel, the main four actors _ Jeong Joon-ho, Jeong Woong-in, Jeong Woon-taek and Kim Sang-jeong _ are the same as the original and its story flows from the original story.
The actors said acting is much easier in the second film as they know their characters and each other better, but at the same time, they have been working under pressure to come up with new ideas for smarter, better, cleverer scenes to meet the high expectations of the fans of the original movie.
"Now we don't need to spend a lot of time studying our characters, but we have more opportunities to talk about each scene to make them more hilarious", Jung Woong-in said.
But, at the same time, they have to keep thinking of something new that they can create based on familiar themes from the original, Jeong Woong-in added.
The original revolves around Kye Du-sik (played by Jeong Joon-ho), the boss of a gang, who has to go to high school to win a diploma without revealing his criminal identity and goes through a whole new experience _ being teased by his classmates and becoming involved in the school's internal corruption.
In the sequel, Kye finally enters a college and this time goes to high school as a student teacher for four weeks. But things are tougher than in the original for Kye, as his boss Oh Sang-jung (Kim) enrolls in the school and becomes a troublemaker, who Kye has to dress down.
The scene that was shot on Monday involves Kye being threatened by a group of villains when he visits a public cemetery where one of his students is buried. But he is saved by "his student" Oh and other gang members. For the scene, some 60 extras showed up.
"My Boss, My Hero 2" has now completed almost 90 percent of its filming, and is expected to be released in January next year.
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