Recently, the South Korean film “The All-Knowing Reader’s Perspective,” starring Lee Min Ho and Ahn Hyo Seop, has achieved astonishing box office success in Taiwan after its release, consistently holding the title of “Best-Selling Korean Film of the Year.” However, behind the two lead actors’ fearless challenges in high-risk action scenes lies a surprising reason that is both laughable and heartwarming: due to their heights of 188cm and 187cm respectively, they couldn’t find suitable body doubles.
Adapted from a popular online novel of the same name, “The All-Knowing Reader’s Perspective” tells the story of a novel that has been serialized for over a decade suddenly becoming reality on its concluding day. The only reader who has read this novel, Jin Duzi (played by Ahn Hyo Seop), along with the protagonist in the novel, Liu Zhonghe (played by Lee Min Ho), and other companions, embark on a survival journey in a collapsing world. In the film, Lee Min Ho and Ahn Hyo Seop not only have to run, fight with swords, and perform stunts but also have to do wire work, with intense action sequences that require physical stamina and leave little room to breathe. Ahn Hyo Seop admitted that at one point, his legs gave out on him.
Recently, during a guest appearance on the South Korean radio program “Lee En Ji’s Melody Plaza” on KBS, Lee Min Ho and Ahn Hyo Seop revealed that they started receiving action training about 2 months before filming began. They disclosed that they had to personally perform all the action scenes due to a “very practical reason.”
Little did the audience know that the “very practical reason” mentioned by Lee Min Ho would elicit both laughter and surprise. Lee Min Ho, who is 187cm tall and only 0.01cm shorter than Ahn Hyo Seop, exclaimed, “In reality, for actors with such great physical conditions (too tall) like Hyo Seop, body doubles are just not available. They have to do it themselves because he is really too tall.”
Lee Min Ho further explained, “In fact, I am also in the same situation. Because there are very few tall body doubles, and one can easily identify if it’s not the actual person based on the body shape and lines. So, as long as the actor has some ambition, most of them will choose to do it themselves.”
When asked if performing the action scenes personally was safe, Lee Min Ho jokingly said, “There were more or less some minor injuries!” As for where the injuries were, he humorously replied, “I don’t want our hard work to become a reason for everyone to buy an extra ticket, so let these minor injuries remain quietly buried!”