[Herald Interview] Seo In-guk says ‘Pipeline’ differs from other caper movies

Director Yoo Ha’s latest movie “Pipeline” does not follow the rules of traditional heist movies, according to actor Seo In-guk who stars in the film.

“The biggest difference is that the main characters are not professionals,” Seo said during an interview with a group of reporters on Monday. “Except for my character Pindol, all of them are ordinary people. Even Pindol who has experience being part of oil theft, only did the drilling. They are a ragtag group of people.”
 

Pindol (played by Seo), the best pipeline drilling technician in Korea, decides to take an offer from Gun-woo (played by Lee Soo-hyuk), an heir of a large conglomerate, to be part of a dangerous oil heist. For the job, Gun-woo rounds up a team of four thieves -- Jeobsae (Eum Moon-suk), Manager Na (Yoo Seung-mok), Keunsab (Tae Hang-ho) and Counter (Bae Da-bin). However, working together as a team is not easy as they all only work for their own interests.

“Pindol is an offensive character and does not have respect for other team members working in the underground tunnel. One of his lines is ‘You guys can be replaced but I am irreplaceable.’ He is always confident,” Seo said.

The young actor also talked about his experience filming in a dark and small underground tunnel.

“To be honest, I suffered more mentally than physically while filming in the tunnel. It was an enclosed space and the staff and the director were blocking the entrance to film the scene,” he said.

What had helped him get through the tough situation was staff who had tried to give them as many breaks as possible and co-stars who constantly attempted to lighten the mood, he said. He especially thanked Eum, who played Jeobsae, for always making everyone laugh.

“There was one time when Eum Moon-suk farted in the tunnel and it made everyone burst into laughter. We had to stop filming for 5-10 minutes,” he said with a beaming smile.

Asked what it was like to work with actor Lee Soo-hyuk for the third time, he said it is always fun to work with a close friend. The two appeared on tvN drama “High School King of Savvy” in 2014 and are also currently working together in another tvN drama ” Doom at Your Service,” which began airing on May 10.

“When I first met him in ‘High School King of Savvy’, I did not know that we would become this close,” Seo said. “We became close later through playing games, having meals and working out together.”

Aside from his acting career, Seo also talked about his plans to continue his singing career. Seo first debuted as a singer through the hit TV audition show “Super Star K” in 2009.

“It was not my intention to focus more on acting. I still crave to perform more as a singer. I recently opened a music studio and also had meetings with composers,” he said. “I am a singer but I have not released my first full album yet. I want to show my color as a singer. It is something that I have to work on.”

“Pipeline” hits local theaters on Wednesday.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)