Exclusive Interview with Sang H. Kim :: Part 2

The following is the second in a series of excerpts from an exclusive interview with Sang H. Kim, director of the martial arts action movie, Zen Man.

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Q: This is your first movie, but you've had a lot of experience in front of and behind the camera, right?

SHK: I've produced over a hundred martial arts instructional DVDs and documentaries and I've made a few short films for classes and workshops, so I'm familiar with the technical aspects of filming but making a movie has been a great change of pace.Writing the script, designing shots, making storyboards, scouting locations, organizing the crew, auditioning actors, supervising the editing and music composition are all very complicated in film production, much more so than any other project I've done to date. It's been a great learning experience and I've gotten to work with a lot of knowledgeable and talented people.

Q: Tell us about the martial arts that you used in the film.

SHK: I used a mixture of taekwondo, which has exciting kicking techniques that look impressive on the screen, and my own system called Junsado. In the beginning of the film, the villain injures Han, taking away the use of his left arm. For two years, he trains with only his right arm using a variety of weapons. For many of the film's fight scenes I was limited to using only one arm. I have been fighting all my life with two arms, so it was strange to do everything with one arm for this role. To move as fast and powerfully as the men I was fighting, I had to adjust my stance and footwork and develop a lot of unorthodox fighting skills. So in the movie, Han's fighting method is very strategic and relies on a mixture of kicking techniques and weapons.

Q: That is an unorthodox mixture.

SHK: It is but it works surprisingly well. I wanted to give the audience an idea of how a skilled martial artist can switch gears fluidly, using whatever is necessary for the situation. Han is not as big or as ruthless as some of the villains he faces, but he gets the job done in the end. A true master should be able to adapt to any situation and use what's at hand to prevail.