Ryu Jun-yeol: "Muruk who performs magic tricks, I attended a gymnastics academy to achieve a clean landing"

Interview with Ryu Jun-yeol Returning as Mureuk in the Movie 'Alien+in'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] “When I was a rookie, I prepared for a free skating audition with a scene from the movie ‘Tazza’ and often said I wanted to work with director Choi Donghoon. ‘Alien+In’ was a fateful work that fulfilled that dream.”

Ryu Junyeol, who gave a splendid performance as the fake shaman ‘Mureuk’ in the somewhat unfamiliar Goryeo Dynasty?set film ‘Alien+In,’ was waiting for the press with an excited face. Meeting him recently in Sogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, ahead of the film’s release, he shared, “Throughout the filming, I was comforted by warm relationships, and now that the work is about to meet the audience in theaters, I feel great anticipation and excitement.”

Introducing his character Mureuk, Ryu Junyeol said the word ‘fake,’ which means someone lacking skill or clumsy in a certain field, captivated his heart. “People cannot always be endlessly good, but the human side of Mureuk, who is introduced as a fake, was charming,” he said. “Also, the feeling of being between the past and the present and the unique name ‘Mureuk’ made me like the role from the very first discussion with the director.”

In ‘Alien+In,’ Mureuk is a novice shaman who somewhat clumsily uses his skills and magic, calling himself ‘Mageonshinmyo,’ and struggles to obtain a sacred sword with a bounty on it. Although he boasts that he can freely handle the sword inside the fan and the cats, at crucial moments, the sword inside the fan does not obey him, and whenever he falls into danger, he escapes with the help of the cats Uwang (Shin Jeonggeun) and Jawang (Lee Sihoon), making him a bungling character. Ryu Junyeol explains that this vulnerability is Mureuk’s unique charm.

Thanks to the character’s mastery of martial arts, he put great effort into building his physique and focused on gymnastics, which involves spinning in the air and landing cleanly on the ground. Ryu Junyeol, who enrolled in a gymnastics academy to learn the moves, said, “To perform wire action well, I thought the rhythm and harmony of rising when the wire is pulled and landing when it is released were key, so I started learning gymnastics, which uses the body well.” He added, “I experienced an elite athletic course, practicing aerial moves and clean landings from morning till night, and was amazed by the physical abilities of Olympic athletes. That experience worked to my advantage when performing action scenes on set.”

He confessed that working with director Choi Donghoon had been a dream since his rookie days: “One day, the agency representative called me and said, ‘Do you remember what you said when you were a rookie? It seems you will be working on director Choi’s film this time.’ At that moment, I was overwhelmed and felt like it was the ending scene of a movie.”

Having fulfilled his dream, Ryu Junyeol reflected on the impact he received and the meaning of the lines when he first faced the script: “I thought that aliens are not unfamiliar beings but rather the various monsters from our oral folklore, which might have depicted the aliens of that era.” He added, “The lines in the movie feel like a poem or a passage from classical literature. If you focus on this, it will greatly help you understand the overall ‘Alien+In.’”