The Battleship Island Press Conference and Meet and Greet

Writer: Gossie
Editor: Tiffany
Photographer and Videographer: Jos

The greatly anticipated press conference with the main cast and the Director for The Battleship Island kicked off with the Managing Director of Clover Films, Mr Lim Teck thanking all the various parties involved in making the Star Tours possible.

It started off with the Director Ryoo Seung Wan answering on why he wanted to film this war movie. The Battleship Island was based on historical facts that happened during WW II. He revealed that when he first saw a picture of the island, it overwhelmed him and prompted him to find out more about it’s dark history. He was determined to bring this on screen to audiences. He acknowledged that it was definitely a challenging journey but compared to the sufferings of the people that took place, it was nothing.

He also talked about the last scene where the little girl So-Hee (Kim Su An) was looking at the audience. Without giving away too much spoilers, he mentioned that the scene made a transition from colour to black and white, signifying the past vs the future. The Director wanted the audience to put themselves into the shoes of this character and think about our past vs the future as well. This final scene was most memorable for So Ji Sub as it really showed the suffering and pain yet her hopes for the future.

(Credit: Golden Village)When it came to the cast, there was naturally much attention on the soon-to-be married Song Joong Ki, who jokingly remarked that he has been living a soldier’s life for a good five years since he is reprising his role as a soldier again from the popular drama, ‘Descendants of the Sun’. Rather than military training, he said the hardest part when preparing for this action movie was actually loosing weight. But everyone agreed that he has the best survival skills being the youngest and fittest. Hwang Jung Ming even self-deprecatingly said that now even the slightest knock would be painful for him, drawing much laughter from the audience.

(Credit: Golden Village)The veteran amongst the three actors, Hwang Jung Min played an extremely talented person in the movie, who could play the clarinet as well as speak fluent Japanese. In reality, he could really play the instrument but he did have to memorise the Japanese script, eliciting a wave of admiration from the MC, Tan Li Yi. He felt honoured to be working with Director Roo Seung Wan again. This man of few words, who could be extremely witty and funny won admiration from both the younger actors for being a skillful actor and a great leader.

(Credit: Golden Village)So Ji Sub, who was in Singapore recently for his own concert, was the most formally dressed among them, in a full suit and tie, looking vastly different from his character in the movie. As a gangster in ‘The Battleship Island’, he had many action scenes in the movie. But what piqued the audience’s interest was when the MC revealed the fight scene in a public bath where he was clad only in his underwear. To everyone’s disappointment, he did not offer much information beyond the fact that full preparations was done for all the scenes. I guess his fans will have to catch the movie to watch So Ji Sub in these exciting scenes.

It was inevitable that Song Joong Ki would be questioned about his bride-to-be, Song Hye Gyo. He laughingly said he would definitely invite everyone but as to whether he would act with her, he would need to think about it as he felt it would be challenging.

And with that, the hormone charged but rather tamed press conference came to a conclusion.

Meet-and-greet 8 August 2017, 7pm

(Credit: Golden Village)5000 fans thronged Suntec city to catch a glimpse of the four men. With all the screaming, it was difficult to really catch what the stars were saying. Every small wave from Song Joong Ki or So Ji Sub would be met with more screaming.

The MC teased the crowd with images of Song Joong Ki and So Ji Sub topless, sweaty and covered in mud. But So Ji Sub seriously assured the excited crowd that it was indeed the Director’s to film the nearly topless scene so as to be as realistic as possible.

(Credit: Golden Village)When the cast were asked what should the supportive fans look out for in the movie, Hwang Jung Min jokingly said they should look out for him, which drew much laughter from the crowd. But on a more serious note, So Ji Sub urged the audience to pay attention to all the atrocities suffered by the people on the Battleship Island. The whole event ended on 1945 Sep and that date should be meaningful for Singaporeans as well.

The meet-and-greet was about 20 mins long and ended with a wefie of the cast and Director with the 5000 strong crowd in the background.