What Really Happened Behind Kim Jin Young’s Sexy, Heroic Moments in “Zombieverse” That Made Zombies Break Character — Producer Tells All
Kim Jin Young, who first stole hearts in the dating show Single’s Inferno 2, stole hearts again in his recent appearance in Zombieverse with his hot rescue moments. The producers of the show recently revealed in a behind-the-scenes anecdote that these moments were not part of the script.
On August 8, Netflix Korea released its new show Zombieverse. Zombieverse is a new type of reality show set in an imaginary Seoul under a zombie attack. Participants must survive the “zombie universe” by completing quests like finding food or transportation while avoiding getting bit by zombies. The art team from All of Us Are Dead and the zombie action choreographer from Kingdom worked together to bring the “zombie universe” to life.
The celebrity participants included DinDin, Lee Si Young, Park Na Rae, Ro Hong Chul, Jonathan and Patricia Yiombi, and others. Netizens were excited to see Kim Jin Young (usually referred to as Dex in Korea) on the show because of his history of being in UDT, the Navy special forces team—and Kim Jin Young did not disappoint.
On the show, Kim Jin Young made hearts flutter as he rescued people in the most heroic ways while showing his incredible physical abilities. One of these moments was when he rescued Billlie‘s Tsuki by going down a rope and lifting her up and out of the pool of zombies in the lower level. However, he needed to rescue himself afterward and surprised everyone—even the zombies—by climbing up the rope with his UDT strength.
미쳣다.. 츠키가 살려면 누가 도르래타고 좀비소굴로 내려가야하는 상황이었는데 덱스씨가 내려감…………🥺🥺
근데……….지금부터가반전 pic.twitter.com/w0iugdGi7q— 포포!!♡ (@littlerabtari) August 8, 2023
That’s wild… In order for Tsuki to live, someone had to get on the pulley and go down to the zombies, and Dex went down………… 🥺🥺 But………. the plot twist starts there
— @littlerabtari
This shocked everybody, the production team, the cast members, and even a zombie who broke character who stare in awe.
In an interview on August 11, the producer of the show, Park Jin Kyung, revealed a behind-the-scenes fact about the rope scene. He shared that originally, the scene was imagined completely differently.
One of the popular scenes involves Dex rescuing Tsuki by sliding down a rope. This wasn’t planned during this quest. The top area was about 8 meters high. The production team imaged a scene where someone stuck below gets pulled down and drowned by zombies, leading to chaos.
— Producer Park Jin Kyung
He continued by stating that Kim Jin Young’s unexpected decision to go down the rope surprised everybody.
But Dex fearlessly grabbed the rope and descended. We watched him and said, ‘Dex is going to die. What should we do?’ but he secured the rope and began to climb up. Even the zombie actors were trying to grab Dex as he climbed up but because he went up succesfuly, they looked at him like, ‘This wasn’t in the script.’ It was an unexpected moment.
— Producer Park Jin Kyung
The producer of the show went on to say that they were able to get a good shot because of Kim Jin Young.
In zombie-themed content, in order to have impact, some participants need to die. We intended to ‘kill’ at least two people in the factory scene, but it didn’t go as planned. I told Dex, ‘I got a great shot. It’s perfect.’ but because it was different from the scenario we originally planned, we had to quickly adjust our plans.
— Producer Park Jin Kyung
The other scene that became popular because of Kim Jin Young’s heroic rescue was when he rescued Patricia, Lee Si Young, and himself when they were abandoned on a buoy in the middle of the ocean. They had used a rope connected to a boat to get to the middle of the water, but when the boat disconnected the rope and left, the three were stranded with no way to reach the shore. Then, Dex jumped into the negative 13-degree Celcius water and swam to shore while pushing the buoy.
진짜 개에바..
바다중간에 고립되니까 파트리샤가 계속무서워하는데
덱스 영하13도바다에 걍 들어감;; pic.twitter.com/Drducd9qa1— 💭 (@zikkcx) August 8, 2023
No freakin’ way… Patricia was scared because they were isolated in the middle of the sea, but Dex just went into the sea of minus 13 degrees;;
— @zikkcx
Producer Moon Sang Don shared the behind-the-scenes process of this iconic heart-fluttering moment. He shared that just like the rope scene, this was an unexpected Dex moment as well.
It wasn’t planned. Dex just jumped in without hesitation and swam.
— Producer Moon Sang Don
The production team was concerned about his safety, but Kim Jin Young was nonchalant about jumping into the cold water. He was completely fine when he got out of the water as well.
In the final scene where Lee Si Young, Patricia, and Dex were on the buoy, Dex just juped into the minus 13-degree sea. I was filming and thinking, ‘Isn’t that dangerou?’ But Dex was Dex. To be honest, we were prepared for the possibility of a cast member falling into the water and had a hot tub ready. When Dex got out of the water, we were planning to warm up his body with the tub, but he said he was fine. We were surprised.
— Kim Jin Young
Park Jin Kyung also shared that the production team and Kim Jin Young watched the episodes together while filming review content. There, Kim Jin Young shared why he didn’t say anything before jumping into the water, showing what a hero he is.
When filmed Dex watching the iconic scenes from Zombieverse, and he said that this was nothing to him because he was UDT. In the scene, he doesn’t say, ‘I’m going to go in. I’ll push.’ and just jumps into the water without saying anything. He said he did that because he thought the others would stop him from going in.
— Producer Park Jin Kyung
Thanks to Kim Jin Young’s improvised moments, Zombieverse had some iconic moments. The producers thanked him and even jokingly called the show Dexverse.
Whenever I talk to Dex, I always say, ‘It’s all because of you. It’s Dexverse.’ I think there’s a reason why Dex was able to have his moment. He has a good sense, visuals, and skills, but beyond that, his personality is wonderful. He understands well what the production team wants.
— Producer Moon Sang Don
Kim Jin Young was a former UDT member who received global fame with is appearance in Single’s Inferno 2. Since then, he has appeared on numerous TV programs and runs a YouTube channel.
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