[Anchor]

Director Na Hong-jin's new film 'Hope,' which generated significant buzz at this year's Cannes Film Festival, has finally been unveiled in Korea. Director Na stated that the stimulation he received in Cannes was helpful in completing the work.

Reporter Lee Joo-hyoung attended the first domestic press screening.

[Reporter]

Na Hong-jin, Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, and Jung Ho-yeon.

The director and cast of 'Hope' have finally stood before the Korean screen.

Even before it was praised for bringing vitality to the Cannes Film Festival, the film 'Hope' was already considered the hope of the Korean film industry this year.

When a film weekly asked industry insiders at the beginning of the year which film they were most looking forward to, 'Hope' ranked first by an overwhelming margin.

This was largely because the future of the Korean film industry depends on the performance of this film, which involved one of the highest production budgets in history.

One of the current topics of public interest is the quality of the CGI, which faced criticism in Cannes.

Director Na explained that the film was submitted to Cannes while he was originally working toward the Korean release date.

[Na Hong-jin/Director: I think those stimuli were helpful, allowing me to finish the work with more passion.]

However, he noted that there were no major changes overall.

[Na Hong-jin/Director: There are no points that are considered to have changed significantly after returning from Cannes. I cut about three minutes from the edit, but...]

'Hope,' which was first revealed to the Korean press today (July 6), shows a reduction in the cult atmosphere characteristic of Director Na's previous works, while the blockbuster elements have become more pronounced.

As expected from the director of 'The Chaser,' the film is likely to be evaluated as having the highest level of perfection in car chase scenes, gun action, and thrilling camera work.

[Zo In-sung/Actor: It was about the capabilities that humans can demonstrate with less reliance on technology. (So, all the action that comes out of that is?) It was all about things we had to do ourselves by throwing our bodies into it.]

'Hope' has been ranked number one in ticket reservations since last Saturday, eleven days before its release.

However, with 'Spider-Man' and 'Odyssey' set to be released consecutively two weeks after the premiere of 'Hope,' the film faces the pressure of securing as many viewers as possible within that window.

Attention is now on how Korean audiences will evaluate 'Hope,' which has a runtime of 156 minutes, the same as Director Na's previous films 'The Yellow Sea' and 'The Wailing.'

Reported by Kim Seung-tae | Video by Lee Sang-min