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| Disney+'s variety show, "The Zone: Survival Mission," stars, from right, Yoo Jae-suk, Kwon Yu-ri and Lee Kwang-soo. Courtesy of Walt Disney Company Korea |
Disney+ show takes cast members into virtual world of simulated disaster
By Lee Gyu-lee
Disney+'s Korean original variety show "The Zone: Survival Mission" garnered high anticipation from fans even before its premiere, as it brings together the producers of the hit show "Running Man" and its cast members Yoo Jae-suk and Lee Kwang-soo.
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| Cho Hyo-jin, left, and Kim Dong-jin, co-producers of "The Zone: Survival Mission"/ Courtesy of Walt Disney Company Korea |
"We wanted a type of show that's different from 'observational' or 'dating' format reality shows, which are booming in Korea now," the show's co-producer, Cho Hyo-jin, said in an interview with The Korea Times via video chat, Wednesday.
"Yoo has this sense of responsibility to be part of a diverse format of shows and he wanted something new. So we had a discussion and came up with a survival show since we've already done escape shows," Cho said.
"The Zone," which kicked off on Sept. 8, has been enjoying popularity, especially in Asia, topping the top 10 streaming chart in Hong Kong and Korea a week after the release. It also ranked second in Singapore and Taiwan, and third in Indonesia, according to the streaming analytics platform, FlixPatrol.
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| A scene from "The Zone: Survival Mission," which hit Disney+, Sept. 8 / Courtesy of Walt Disney Company Korea |
Co-producers Cho and Kim Dong-jin, who previously co-led Netflix's whodunit reality show, "Busted!," said that they wanted to send a message of encouragement through the series of survivals.
"We wanted to show how (the cast members) realistically endure the circumstances of a simulated disaster, and hoped (the viewers) feel comfort and empathy by seeing them go through it with a sense of comedy," Cho said. "Rather than trying to have a huge message … we just wanted to send encouragement to those enduring the hard reality."
Kim added: "We are in a phase to get back to normal life from the pandemic and I wanted to use that source in the variety show to give laughs and get viewers to resonate (with the show)."
Each zone runs on an extensive scale, such as in a half-constructed building, consisting of different rooms for games. The cast members spent four hours straight to complete the mission without any interference from the production crew.
The producers shared that preparing each zone needed meticulous planning, as the zones need to be as realistic as possible for the three cast members to immerse themselves into each one.
"The producers and writers spent about 400 hours in order to film the four hours straight. In order to shoot for four hours without stopping, we needed to plan a lot, which was mentally exhausting," Cho said.
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| A scene from the variety show "The Zone: Survival Mission" / Courtesy of Walt Disney Company Korea |
He added that Yoo had played an important role in carrying out the filming and bringing out the comedy in each simulation.
"(Yoo) is really good at staying focused in such circumstances. Only Yoo can keep up the humor while struggling for his survival for four hours. He has a great ability to keep such situations under control," Cho said, adding that sharp-witted Yoo also kept the production team on their toes in designing the zones.
Kim shared that he had learned a lot from working with Yoo for this show. "Yoo always tries to challenge himself, rather than settling for something, and I've been inspired by that. So I've started to learn and study for references in making (the show), whether it is a movie, drama or society in general," he said.
As the show is streamed globally through Disney+, Cho revealed that they tried to make each episode easy to watch for viewers overseas as well, such as minimize the need for captions.
"A disaster is something that any viewer will understand. So we tried to approach (the show's games) simply and with a more slapstick comedy style," he said. "And if there are too many captions, it will be hard for them to understand, so we tried to make it enjoyable for them as well."
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