Scruffy Song Joong-ki or a suited-up oppa? Get both on Netflix in his new film Space Sweepers and drama Vincenzo out in February

The year 2020 was a very one with coronavirus lockdowns, social distancing, and, ahem, no Song Joong-ki.

His last offering was the 2019 drama series Arthdal Chronicles, and his space fantasy film Space Sweepers — originally due to be released in cinemas last year — was delayed until tomorrow (Feb 5) and would instead be shown on Netflix.

AsiaOne met up with the 35-year-old heartthrob virtually earlier this week during the promotions for Space Sweepers, but more on that later.

First, check out the trailer for his new drama series Vincenzo, which just dropped today (Feb 4) on Netflix.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6IobOYvnWo[/embed]

Joong-ki plays Vincenzo Cassano, a lawyer working for the Italian mafia who returns to his motherland in search of gold bars buried underneath a building in Seoul. In doing so, he becomes embroiled in a legal battle against a large conglomerate and reluctantly utilises villainous tactics to take them down.

Vincenzo — which also stars Jeon Yeo-been, Taecyeon, Kim Yeo-jin, and Kwak Dong-yeon — premieres on Feb 20 at 10pm on Netflix, with new episodes released every Saturday and Sunday.

This anti-hero streak is also apparent in Space Sweepers, which is South Korea's first sci-fi space movie and is set in 2092.

While Joong-ki looks all smart and dapper in his atas suit in Vincenzo, he's scruffy and hole-in-the-sock rough around the edges in the movie as ace pilot Tae-ho, who works on the debris collection spaceship Victory that survives on scavenging for space junk.

Tae-ho would do anything for money, but as the film progresses and reveals his backstory, you'll understand the reason for it and also his aloofness to the humanoid robot Dorothy, a weapon of mass destruction that the Victory crew retrieved by accident.

With the whole of space on the frantic hunt for Dorothy, Tae-ho and his friends come up with a dangerous plan to trade Dorothy for a large sum of money.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu7XWQnVbg0[/embed]

During the press conference for the film earlier this week, Joong-ki said he's worked with Space Sweepers director Jo Sung-hee before in the 2012 movie A Werewolf Boy, and heard then that the latter was working on a space film.

Joong-ki thought it was interesting and amazing, and so years later when the director approached him to act in Space Sweepers, he accepted the role immediately without even reading the script.

He added: "I've never played a role that's handsome (in director Sung-hee's shows). I'm always dirty, covered in oil and dust. But I fall in love with these characters because their personalities are very pure and they have the warmest hearts."

Later in the round-table interviews, he explained further: "The approach I always take and something I bring to everything I do, is I don't want my character to be cool. If you try to look cool when you act, it may look pretentious."

Headlining such a big budget movie and to top it, Korea's first space epic, should be nerve-racking but Joong-ki is chill about it.

"I think a lot of the burden rest on the director's shoulders. To have the title of Korea's first space blockbuster is almost like having the national flag on your chest. We didn't want to be pressured or burdened by that," he said.

"On the contrary, I was more excited, I felt like I was a child again. When I first read the script, it reminded me of when I was a young kid, of the Hollywood movie The Goonies. It was such an amazing adventure film. That's exactly how I felt. It was yet another amazing adventure, taking place in outer space."

Space Sweepers will premiere on Netflix tomorrow Feb 5, while Vincenzo premieres Feb 20 at 10pm on Netflix.

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com