Nam Joo-hyuk shows his dark side, faces off Yoo Ji-tae in new action-thriller Vigilante

Model police academy student on weekdays, a mysterious vigilante on weekends.

For the first time, South Korean actor Nam Joo-hyuk is showing his dark side as he takes on the role of Kim Ji-yong in the action-thriller K-drama Vigilante.

Based on a webtoon, the series follows Ji-yong who witnesses his mother getting beaten to death as a child. As an adult, he takes matters into his own hands and takes revenge on the murderer.

He then continues to punish criminals as Vigilante on weekends while continuing his life as a star student at South Korea's Police academy on weekdays.

In an email interview shared with AsiaOne, Joo-hyuk, who is currently undergoing his mandatory military service, talked about how he prepared for the contrasting role.

"I had a lot of discussions with the director about portraying an ordinary student who enjoys hanging out with his friends – just like any normal twenty-year-old.

"For the Vigilante aspect, I wanted to make the character as different as possible from his day-to-day student life. As Vigilante, Ji-yong is lonely and as the series goes on, I go deeper into the character, making him darker and darker," explained the 29-year old.

[[nid:655646]]

Vigilante marks Joo-hyuk's first action-driven role, which meant that he needed to prepare for months in advance.

He previously starred in romance dramas such as Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo (2016), The Bride of Habaek (2017) and Twenty-Five Twenty-One (2022).

"I went to a stunt academy, started weight training, and took boxing lessons… I started training about two months before we began production," he shared.

"I think I went to the boxing gym almost every day, and the instructor gave me one-on-one lessons. Whenever I practiced with the stunt team, we would train for almost three hours at a time."

His antithesis is veteran actor Yoo Ji-tae who plays the role of chief investigator Jo Heon tasked with tracking down the Vigilante. He too had to prepare for the role.

"In order to embody Jo Heon's charismatic presence, I gained about 15 to 16kg over the course of five months. Weight gain itself isn't difficult, but building muscle mass is really challenging. I worked out regularly to bulk up, and now, I'm trying to shed the excess weight," said Ji-tae, 47.

[[nid:656420]]

He added that he learned boxing, jiu jitsu and judo in the past which proved to be useful while filming the series.

Ji-tae concluded: "The series has brought together an amazing cast to deliver an unforgettable show that lives up to the high standards established in the original webtoon. I can't wait for you all to see what we've created!"

Vigilante premieres Nov 8 on Disney+.

[embed]https://youtu.be/8QErHoBAACs?feature=shared[/embed]

syarifahsn@asiaone.com

No part of this story can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.