Youn Yuh-jung, Yoo Hae-jin unite in cute canine film ‘Dog Days’

Oscar-winning actor Youn Yuh-jung is returning to the silver screen with a cute canine film, “Dog Days.” She has received critical acclaim with international projects like “Minari” (2020) and Apple TV+ series “Pachinko” (2022).

Youn said she decided to star in the comedy-drama flick “Dog Days” due to a promise she made to director Kim Deok-min.

“I decided to star in this film just because of director Kim – not because he is super talented or something,” Youn said jokingly during a press conference held in Seoul on Wednesday.

“He and I have this comradeship after being treated like ‘dogs’ when we were younger – he was an assistant director back then. Then I decided that I would star in his directorial debut film,” said the 76-year-old actor who appears as Min-seo, an accomplished architect, in the movie.

The film revolves around six people who live their own lives but gradually experience positive changes through unexpected encounters with dogs. Yoo Hae-jin acts as Min-sang, the owner of the building that houses an animal hospital. In the movie, he doesn’t like dogs, but inevitably becomes close to them through a vet, Jin-young (Kim Seo-hyoung).

Kim Yun-jin, Jung Sung-hwa, Lee Hyun-woo, Tang Jun-sang and Daniel Henney also star in the film.

Yoo said shooting this film reminded him a lot of his dog, Gyeowooli, which appeared with Yoo in the hit reality TV show “Three Meals a Day” in 2016. Gyeowooli passed away last April.

“I named him Gyeowooli (winter in Korean) because I like winter. Our film is being released in winter, which reminds me a lot of him. I didn’t know that the sorrow of losing a companion dog would last this long. I still miss him every day,” Yoo told reporters.

Meanwhile, director Kim Deok-min said the safety of dogs was a priority during this project.

“I wanted to portray certain scenes in the film but that was not what the dogs cared about. First, second and third priority during this project were the dogs' safety,” Kim said.

“Thanks to the trainers who were always on the set, I was able to wait until the dogs showed great acting. All I did was install the camera and wait for them, instead of giving directions,” he added.

“Dog Days” hits local theaters on Feb. 7.