To create the perfect scene in his new drama "Two Weeks," Lee Jun Ki had to endure being buried alive. It only had to look like his character Jang Tae San was buried alive but for the actor the entire scene was a little too realistic.
"Jang Tae San has to keep finding new ways to hide," said Lee Jun Ki at a press conference. "At one point, he'll even go underground, digging up dirt as if he's digging his own grave."
As you might imagine, the scene was frightening.
"It was truly scary to feel, for a brief moment, what it might be like to die this way but the staff seemed to be having a good time piling dirt over me," he said. "When I saw how the staff dug up the dirt scoop by scoop, I thought if I didn't work hard I would end up dead."
Being buried alive is just part of a day's work when you are filming an action thriller and "Two Weeks" offers plenty of action scenes as Lee Jun Ki's character has to escape detectives and hit men.
It's ironic that in his last drama, "Arang and the Magistrate," Lee Jun Ki was hoping for a little more action. He asked the director to include more sequences.
"At the outset, the character did not have a lot of action scenes and I suggested giving him more of that," said Lee Jun Ki.
There was no need to add action scenes to the episodes of "Two Weeks." His character is an aimless man who finds new purpose in his life when he discovers that he has a daughter and that she has leukemia. He can donate bone marrow to save his daughter, but then he gets framed for a murder. Showing up for her surgery while he is on the run may be difficult. He not only has to run from the people chasing him but he has to find a way to run to where his daughter needs him to be.
After he established that the "Two Weeks" crew was doing a thoroughly professional job, he was asked how he got along with his fellow cast members, Kim So Yeon, Ryu Soo Young and Park Ha Sun. He said things were going well."
"At first I worried because I like to joke around on set. It helps me feel more comfortable but it's not always the same with your co-stars," he said. "Thankfully, it turns out that we are all on the same page."
The MBC Wednesday-Thursday drama starts Aug. 7
