Jung Doo-hong

Jung Doo-hong
Born (1966-12-14) December 14, 1966
Chilsan-ri, Imcheon-myeon, Buyeo County, South Chungcheong Province, South Korea
Education Incheon Junior College - Physical Education
Occupation Action director
Martial arts choreographer
Stunt coordinator
Actor
Years active 1989–present
Spouse(s) Nadya Hutagalung (1998; divorced)
Korean name
Hangul 정두홍
Hanja 鄭斗洪
Revised Romanization Jeong Du-hong
McCune–Reischauer Chŏng Tu-hong

Jung Doo-hong (born December 14, 1966) is a South Korean action director, martial arts choreographer, stunt coordinator, and actor.

Early life

Jung Doo-hong was born in 1966 in Chilsan-ri, Imcheon-myeon, Buyeo County, South Chungcheong Province, the youngest of seven siblings. As a child, he was small for his age and had an unusually shy and introspective personality. But his life changed dramatically when a private Taekwondo institute opened near his high school when he was a freshman student. Jung became engrossed in the traditional Korean martial art, practicing taekwondo every day. Because he was so poor, he could not afford to pay his training fees, but the master of the institute, Lee Gak-soo, taught him taekwondo for free because he recognized Jung's passion and talent.[1]

In 1985, he entered Incheon Junior College as an athletics/physical education major. He was also selected as a member of a performing team that promoted taekwondo and Korean culture around the world, and spent much of his college years overseas, teaching taekwondo in the United States, Japan and Mexico. During his mandatory military service, he served as a martial arts trainer of a frontline elite unit, followed by a brief stint as a bodyguard for a parliamentarian after his discharge from the military.[1]

Career

Debut as stuntman

A friend on his bodyguard team recommended Jung as a stuntman. But in 1990, the compensation and benefits that Korean stuntmen received were meager at best, and Jung was hired only to carry heavy equipment for the stunt acting team on a direct-to-video film he applied for. Deeply disappointed, he temporarily quit stunt work; instead, every day he underwent intensive exercise at Boramae Park to improve his physical strength, and continued learning various martial arts such as aikido, hapkido, kickboxing and fencing under Kim Young-mo at a nearby training center from 11 p.m. until dawn. Three months later, he was hired as a stuntman for actor Lee Il-jae on Im Kwon-taek's hit movie General's Son (1990).[1]

Action director

He quickly rose up the ranks to become the action director (also called stunt coordinator, martial arts director, or fight director) on the 1992 film Sirasoni ("Bobcat"), making him, at age 25, the youngest to hold that job in Korean film history. In the succeeding years, Jung undisputedly became the country's most important and influential action director, remaining in the center of Korean movie action by directing/choreographing action for 4 to 6 movies per year. He was responsible for designing the street shooting in Shiri (1999), the wrestling in The Foul King (2000), the western spectacle in The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008), and the hand-to-hand combat and wire work in The Berlin File (2013).[2][3] Constantly innovating, Jung is the acknowledged creator of "Koreanized" action, the rough-and-realistic Korean style of action and fight choreography.[4][5]

Seoul Action School

Jung listed Park No-sik and Jang Dong-hwi among the Korean action film actors that he respects, saying, "I thought it was very cool to wear a formal hat and throw blows at the enemy and rescue women. But when I first debuted [as a stuntman], it was during the days when stuntmen were treated as less than human."[6] Things have changed since then, but Jung believes working conditions for present-day stuntmen can still be improved further. This, and his commitment, passion and pride regarding the action/martial arts filmmaking in Korea are part of the reason he founded the Seoul Action School at a gymnasium in Boramae Park on July 1, 1998.[7] He jointly established the facility with four of his younger colleagues with the aim of producing and nurturing martial arts directors and stuntmen. As of 2006, the school had 25 key members, and recruits new members every six months and offers them free martial arts training.[1] It later expanded and moved to Paju, Gyeonggi Province in 2009.[8] Jung has spoken with candor about the difficulties of maintaining a stunt company in a country that he believes does not appreciate the action genre at all,[9] but he is glad that young prospective actors at the Seoul Action School now seem to be proud to get into the action genre.[6] Jung continues to be an advocate for safe working conditions and adequate compensation for stuntmen in Korea.[8]

International projects

Besides Korean cinema, Jung was the action director for the 2002 Japanese film Seoul (ソウル) by Masahiko Nagasawa, and the 2007 Russian blockbuster Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan (лНМЦНК) by Sergei Bodrov.[10] He was also the stunt double for actor Lee Byung-hun in Lee's Hollywood films G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Red 2 (both in 2013).[3]

Acting

Longtime friend and collaborator, director Ryoo Seung-wan has spoken of how he greatly appreciates Jung's stubbornness when providing creative input in his films' action scenes.[11] Jung, who has appeared onscreen in minor and supporting parts throughout his career, has had his most significant acting roles in Ryoo's movies, particularly as the villain in action-comedy-fantasy Arahan (2004).

Then in 2006, Ryoo cast Jung and himself in the leading roles in The City of Violence, about two friends who reunite in their hometown and go after the bad guys who killed their friend.[12] Jung said he had wanted to be in a film that was "simply action" (without romance or suspense) and thought, "This was my last chance [to appear in an action movie]. So I wanted to show everything I had."[6][11]

Boxing

Wanting a new challenge, in 2005 Jung (by then already in his forties) made his debut as a professional boxer in the welterweight division.[13][14] He also opened a fitness center with TV host Lee Hoon, called "Double H Multi Gym."[15][16]

Personal life

Jung married Indonesian-Australian model and former MTV Asia VJ Nadya Hutagalung in 1998, but the union ended within a year; Hutagalung later said the marriage wasn't officially registered.[17][18]

Filmography

Action/Stunts

Actor

Variety show

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Chung Doo-hong, best martial arts movie director in Korea". KBS Global. 14 June 2006. Archived from the original on June 29, 2006. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  2. ↑ Park, Eun-jee (28 January 2013). "Berlin File mixes Korean intrigue, cold war backdrop". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  3. 1 2 Song, Ji-hwan (8 March 2013). "JUNG Doo-hong, Action Coordinator of THE BERLIN FILE: "Hollywood's Action Can't Rival Korea's" JUNG Proves Industry's Excellence in Action Genre". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  4. ↑ "JUNG Doo-hong". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  5. ↑ Won, Ho-jung (29 July 2015). "Herald Review: Swaggering Veteran pulls no punches". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2015-07-30.
  6. 1 2 3 Lee, Hoo-nam; Lee, Min-a (15 May 2006). "Film noir showcases duo's martial arts skills". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  7. ↑ "Seoul Action School (Martial Arts Center) (서울액션스쿨 (마샬아트센터))". Korea Tourism Organization. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  8. 1 2 "Martial Arts Director Jeong Du-hong". KBS World. 22 January 2009. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  9. ↑ Kim, Kyu Hyun (5 February 2008). "City of Violence: Lean and Mean". OhmyNews International. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  10. ↑ "Jung Doo-Hong talks about лНМЦНК (Mongol)". Twitch Film. 3 August 2005. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  11. 1 2 "A Trip Inside The City of Violence: Ryu Seung-Wan and Jung Doo-Hong Talk 짝패". Twitch Film. 27 May 2006. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  12. ↑ "시사회 - PRESS SCREENING: 짝패 (The City of Violence)". Twitch Film. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  13. ↑ "K-FILM REVIEWS: 주먹이 운다 (Crying Fist)". Twitch Film. 22 August 2005. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  14. ↑ Kim, Kyu Hyun (7 February 2006). "Crying Fist DVD Review: Ryoo Seung Wan's latest shows his growth as a filmmaker". OhmyNews International. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  15. ↑ "Korean News in Brief: July 26 (Mean Streets, PSP, Happy Birthday, Jung Doo-Hong, Losing Love)". Twitch Film. 27 July 2005. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  16. ↑ http://doublehmg.com/
  17. ↑ Seno, Alexandra A. "The ABCs of Nadya's Marriage Plans". Asiaweek. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  18. ↑ Leong, Su-Lin (3 April 2007). "Against all odds". CloveTWO. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  19. ↑ "The Man called 'Tiger'". IndieStory. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  20. ↑ "Kick Your Bottom!". IndieStory. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
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