The story of “Champion Without a Country”tells the story of Son Ki-jeong (played by Ha Jung-woo) who became a marathon gold medal runner in setting a new world record at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but was unable to wave the national flag and the medal did not belong to South Korea.
Director Kang Je-kyu, who created a new realm of Korean movies with “Fish”and “Taegeukgi – Brothers of Life and Death”, also shared his inspiration for creating “Champions of No Country”. He revealed that he watched the adaptation of the 1924 Paris Olympics when he was in his 20s. After watching the true story movie “Chariots of Fire”, he dreamed of one day creating a marathon movie like this. He said: “After watching “Chariots of Fire”, I felt that running is a very attractive sport!”Director Kang Je-gyu said that he focused the story of “No Country’s Champions”on the two athletes who accepted the Olympic glory with the flag of another country and worked hard to cultivate their children after overcoming their injuries so that they could strive for glory for their country.
Director Kang Di-gyu also said that he was shocked when he learned the story behind Seo Yun-bok’s victory in the Boston Marathon that year, and he wanted to faithfully convey that power to the audience. Director Kang Jikyu said: “The behind-the-scenes story of coach Son Ki-jeong, Nam Seung-ryong, and Seo Yun-bok’s participation was very fascinating. They took a U.S. military plane and stopped in Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii, San Francisco and other places on the way, and finally arrived in Boston. Before the race, I found out that I had to run with an American flag. These are all actual situations. 80% of the content in the movie is unvarnished historical facts!”Many viewers were surprised when watching “No Nation’s Champion”I was extremely surprised by what really happened. For example, in the second half of the Boston Marathon, a dog suddenly broke into the track and injured runner Xu Runfu. This dramatic episode also happened.
In addition, Ha Jung-woo, who played the “Marathon Hero”in “No Country’s Champion”, revealed that before filming this film, he participated in the Honolulu Marathon in Hawaii with Lee Sun-kyun and his sister-in-law Hwang Bo-ra in 2018, completing the entire marathon of 42.195 kilometers. He said: “Because I really want to see how it feels. Even though it is running and walking, it is really not easy. I have only run a half marathon before, and that was my first time to challenge a full marathon. It was very hard. It took 6 hours to complete. After reaching the finish line, I couldn’t help but lie on the grass and couldn’t move for a whole hour!”
“No Country’s Champion”was released in Taiwan during the National Day holiday! In order to celebrate the National Day holiday on October 10, the “Double Ten National Day Flag Raising Field”will be held at 7:30 a.m., as long as you arrive at Ximending Roxy Cinema before 7:30 a.m. on October 10 (Tuesday), if you bring the flag of the Republic of China, you can attend the “Double Ten National Day Flag Raising Field”for free to watch “No Nation’s Champion”. Seats are limited and are subject to availability. For details, please visit Garage Entertainment Fans.
Leave a Reply