‘He’s at my house!’ Facts you may not know about Eum Moon-seok, the bizarre carpenter in 〈Hope〉

Add one more signature Na Hong-jin line to '4885, it's you?' (〈The Chaser〉) and 'What matters?' (〈The Wailing〉): 'He's at my house!' delivered by the bizarre carpenter Yang Bae (Eum Moon-seok), who speaks in a Chungcheong dialect in 〈Hope〉. Actor Eum Moon-seok completed the strangely otherworldly character Yang Bae with a dazed expression, halting speech and bizarre physical mannerisms that feel more alien than the aliens themselves.

The scene in which Yang Bae shows Beom-seok the young alien he kept in a freezer is the scene Na Hong-jin considered the most important in 〈Hope〉. Na Hong-jin cast Eum Moon-seok through an audition, praising the peculiarity and originality of how he moves his mouth and jaw and uses facial muscles, and he lauded Eum's facial expressiveness and sense of rhythm. Here are several lesser-known facts about Eum Moon-seok, a screen-stealing presence in the film.

From god backup dancer to singer 'SIC,' and a crump dancer on 〈Dancing 9〉

The man behind Yang Bae's homespun Chungcheong accent in 〈Hope〉, actor Eum Moon-seok, is also from Asan, South Chungcheong Province. Head over heels for dance, he moved to Seoul at 16 without a plan. He worked as a backup dancer for god, the duo Ryang Hyun-ryangha and Space A, and was later chosen by singer The One as his first producing student, debuting in 2005 as the solo singer 'SIC.' After that, Eum hosted the variety show 〈Sangsang Plus〉 and formed the group 'Monsters.' He then competed on Mnet's dance survival program 〈Dancing 9〉, showcasing flashy and explosive crump dance skills that left a strong impression on the public.

A field-hockey player through middle school, now a Muay Thai master

Eum Moon-seok's unusual physical acting seems rooted in his athleticism and dance skills. He played field hockey through middle school, lining up at the wing position. Drawn to dance, he quit hockey and moved to Seoul at 16. From his early 20s he trained in Muay Thai and now holds a certified 5-dan instructor-level rank. The way Yang Bae in 〈Hope〉 freely manipulates facial muscles to produce unique expressions and speech patterns appears closely tied to the body awareness he developed through years as a dancer and martial artist.

Breakout acting as Jang-ryong in 〈The Fiery Priest〉, and the grit that won him a part in 〈The Roundup〉

Eum Moon-seok began acting during his time as a singer, thinking it might help his music career. He quickly fell for it and studied acting so intensely—training with actors such as Kim Jun-han—that he reached the point of being able to teach. He formally entered the acting world in 2017 with the drama 〈Whisper〉. Director Lee Myung-woo noticed him. In 2019, through Lee's 〈The Fiery Priest〉, his role as Jang-ryong made him instantly memorable to viewers. He made a dramatic transformation with his trademark bob haircut and Chungcheong dialect, even earning a rookie acting award. The backstory behind his casting in 〈The Roundup〉, the film that made him a star of a 10 million-admissions hit, also stands out: after advancing to the final audition for the youngest detective role in the first film but not being cast, he took matters into his own hands and produced an acting video—filming and editing it himself—and sent it to the production. In the end, he was cast as Jang Gi-cheol, Kang Hae-sang's partner, in 〈The Roundup〉.

Turned to directing when no one called—short films that reached Cannes

Eum Moon-seok is also a filmmaker. He began directing because "no one was calling him" and because he wanted to understand shots better. Not wanting to wait to be invited, he formed a troupe of new actors called '7097 Actors' and took on everything from the script to camera, lighting and sound to make the short film 〈Miheng〉. He said, half-jokingly, that he submitted both the short he directed, 〈Miheng〉, and the film he starred in, 〈Awaeo〉, to what he described as the festival with the quickest submission response—and both works were invited to the Cannes Film Festival's non-competitive section. Because they were non-competitive slots, he paid his own way and ended up staying in a cramped servant's attic Airbnb that cost 35,000 won a night while walking the Cannes red carpet. On the set of 〈Pipeline〉, during a one-and-a-half-hour wait, he used a single cellphone to direct a post-credits bonus clip with fellow actors, and that clip was later included in the actual ending credits.