Climbing steep mountains, muay thai training: Lee Dong-wook and Kim Hye-jun recall challenging experiences filming A Shop for Killers

Sometimes the toughest times end up being our best memories.

South Korean actor Lee Dong-wook is back with the new K-drama A Shop for Killers, and he shared how a difficult scene ended up being one of the most memorable moments from the production.

“We shot a scene that involved us venturing into a cave and climbing up a very steep mountain… It was so steep that everyone practically had to rely on ropes and crawl close to the surface for the climb. It was such a challenging experience for both the crew and the cast,” the 42-year-old recalled in an interview shared with AsiaOne.

“But having these physically close interactions ultimately brought us all closer. When we reached the cave, I was so impressed by how beautiful it was that I almost couldn’t believe the scouting team managed to find a location like it.”

In A Shop for Killers, Dong-wook plays retired mercenary Jeong Jin-man, who secretly runs an unusual shop selling weapons. When he dies unexpectedly, his niece Jeong Ji-an (played by Kim Hye-jun) becomes the target of assassination due to his dangerous legacy.

While Dong-wook has experience with action K-dramas in the past, the genre is newer to Hye-jun, who had to learn muay thai for the role.

“I attended a stunt academy about four months before production began and tried to go almost every day. During the first few days, I thought of giving up for the first time in my career, but the rigorous training quickly dissuaded me of any hope for an easier route,” recalled the 28-year-old in the interview shared with AsiaOne.

“Prior to this project, I didn’t have any experience with any sort of martial arts so trying to quickly build a foundation for action skills was also incredibly hard.”

At the recent press conference for the series, Hye-jun revealed how Dong-wook comforted her through the training.

“I relied on him a lot. When I went to the stunt academy, I had a lot of hard times.

“Nobody was really on my side because everyone was like, ‘You have to do it anyway,’ but Dong-wook told me that I shouldn’t get hurt and to do whatever I can… I was very touched.”

A Shop for Killers is streaming on Disney+.