Actor Hyun Bin poses during a press conference for the upcoming movie “Harbin” at a theater in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap By Baek Byung-yeul The film "Harbin," which tells the story of Ahn Jung-geun (1879-1910) , an independence activist who sought to break free from Japanese colonial rule, strived to capture the unwavering determination of the lieutenant general of the Korean resistance army and his comrades, director Woo Min-ho said Wednesday. "Even after arriving in Mongolia, we had to travel three more days to reach the filming location.
It was all unpaved roads and just getting there exhausted us," the director said during a press conference in Seoul. The movie was filmed in three locations: Latvia, Mongolia and Korea. Woo noted that temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius in Mongolia were particularly challenging.
"The prerequisite for filming this movie was that we shouldn't be comfortable, in order to capture General Ahn and other independence fighters' spirit," he said. "Although it's incomparable to what they went through, we believed we needed to experience hardship by visiting remote places and vast wilderness to understand even a fraction of their efforts, difficulties and mindset." Actor Hyun Bin takes on the role of independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun in the movie “Harbin.
” Courtesy of CJ ENM The big-budget movie, reportedly costing about 30 billion won ($21.5 million), highlights independence activists who risked their lives fighting for Korea's i.