KB News Desk
The Hallyu-era TV star plays a mystery man in Daishi Matsunaga’s ‘Criminal,’ now streaming on Prime Video
Borders don’t mean much in the age of social media and streaming, and Jung Il-woo’s career path bears that out.
A fixture of Korean TV in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the actor has also been taking his act abroad, from a Chinese romantic comedy to a Thai drama that made him the first Korean lead on the country’s airwaves.
His latest stop is Japan. The actor makes his Japanese-language debut in “Hanzaisha: Criminal,” a Prime Video original crime mystery that’s been releasing new episodes weekly since July 17. On Thursday, Jung fronted a press conference alongside director Daishi Matsunaga at a multiplex in Seoul, his first sit-down with the Korean press for the show.
Adapted from Ai Ota’s novel and led by Issey Takahashi, Takumi Saitoh and Koshi Mizukami, “Criminal” follows three strangers pulled together by a random stabbing incident that spirals into something much darker.
Jung plays Takigawa, a shadowy figure who turns up around the central trio. The character is Japanese in the original novel; the production reworked him as a Korean once Matsunaga settled on Jung.
“This is my Japanese debut, and I approached it like a rookie,” Jung said. “I’m thrilled to finally get to share it here.”
The casting goes back three years, by his telling. “The director saw me in ‘Highway Family’ and said he’d love to work with me someday,” he said. “Three years later, he came to me with a character who holds the key to the whole story. I said yes on the spot.”
Matsunaga, an actor-turned-filmmaker whose features have made the festival rounds in Korea, said the casting came down to instinct. “What matters most to me in casting isn’t the resume — it’s the impression I get meeting someone face to face,” he said. “And Jung seemed like he’d be fun to work with.”
Working together confirmed the hunch. “He calls this his Japanese debut, but he’s a seasoned actor, and the passion he brought was incredible,” the director said. “He’s got charm to spare, but when I’m working, what I care about is the new ground an actor can break — and I couldn’t be happier with what we got.”
Jung closed with a pitch to the home crowd. “It’s a crime thriller, but it watches all its characters from a distance,” he said. “You keep wondering where the next episode will go — that’s the hook. I hope Korean viewers give it a shot.”
“Hanzaisha: Criminal” is available on Prime Video with English subtitles.
