Actor Jung-min Hwang, who plays the South Korean spy with the code-name 'Black Venus', said of the emphasis of playing his central spy character of Seok-young Park (aka Suk-young Park) in this film: "I spent a lot of time discussing his character with the director [Jong-bin Yoon], and we decided to approach it
almost like two separate characters, so that the acting for Park Suk-young would be different for
that of 'Black Venus'. For example, when operating in China or North Korea, he is 'Black Venus',
not Park Suk-young. He has his own distinctive look, actions and speaking style. I tried to
portray 'Black Venus' less as a spy, and more as a kind of businessman. In general, 'Black Venus'
and Park Suk-young speak different dialects, the South-eastern Gyeongsang dialect and a
standard dialect, so we can think of them as different people."
Taiwan doubled for both North Korea and Beijing in China for some parts of the movie which are set there.
Of the adapting of the 'Black Venus Case' for the screen in this movie, this film's director Jong-bin Yoon said: "Around 2014, I was researching the National Intelligence Service [NIS] and I came across a
reference to a spy called 'Black Venus'. I was intrigued. After the NIS and the American CIA [Central Intelligence Agency]
received intelligence in 1989 about the North Korean nuclear program, one man had his identity
washed and was sent to North Korea as a spy. I was curious to find out how a spy operation of
the type we usually see in films or novels might have played out in reality, and what was
happening on the South Korean side."
The character of Myong-un Ri (Sung-min Lee), the Director of North Korea's External Economic Council in the film, which is Beijing-based in China, is a true power broker in
North Korea, and one of the few people who take part in face-to-face meetings with Kim Jong-Il (Ju-bong Gi).
According to 'The Korea Times', the film became a box-office hit there with about two million people going to see it there in its first five days of release.
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