Ryu Hye-young Took Up Slow Running to Survive Her First Action Lead, Killing Time

Ryu Hye-young says she started slow running to get ready for the action in Killing Time, and she has kept at it since. She brought it up at a press event for the film on the 13th at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Seoul, where she also said she had long wanted to try an action role.

The remark fits a pattern in her recent run of projects: Intern and Assassin(s) came before this one, and she described Killing Time as a new side of herself. She also recently showed off slow running on a variety program. The film opens in theaters on the 21st.

A livestream crew and a haunted hospital

Killing Time is a remake of the 2016 Australian film Scare Campaign. It follows an internet broadcasting crew that earns money by livestreaming hidden-camera pranks, usually staged scares. Ryu plays Yeon-woo, an actress in the crew, and Nam Yoon-su plays Joo-won, the producer who runs the channel with her.

During one broadcast, a guest dies. The channel shuts down amid public backlash. Months later the crew tries a comeback with another prank, staged in an abandoned hospital. The show goes smoothly until a real killing occurs, and the crew finds itself hunted by an unidentified presence with limited time to survive.

Director Jang Joon-yeop described it as a time-attack thriller, one where the characters must reach a goal within a fixed window. "We wanted to capture the fear at the moment manufactured horror becomes real," he said, adding that he wanted to reflect the desires of the people who make and consume this kind of content. Because the original's sensibility differs from Korean tastes, he said, the team folded in a dystopian setting and thriller elements, which in turn brought in the action.

The title carries two meanings, according to Jang. It can mean passing time lightly, but also a time spent killing someone. "We tried to express the cinematic setup and the irony," he said.

Two actors, two firsts

Ryu said the script held her from start to finish and that Yeon-woo was a role any actress would have wanted. She was drawn to a character with layered emotions who is confused one moment and fighting the next. Preparing, she realized her stamina was lacking, which is when slow running began. Shooting was physically hard, she said, but she enjoyed her first action work every day, pouring everything into a limited time and location.

For Nam, known for the series Today's Webtoon (2022) and Love in the Big City (2024), this is his first lead role in a film. He had never done a thriller or horror project and wanted the experience, and he liked the idea of leading a crew. He admitted the format made him nervous: film audience numbers are exact and reactions come quickly. He thought he had worked hard, but watching the finished film left him with regrets, which he said arrived only after the fact.

Still, he found the genre easier than expected. Cast members swapped scary stories, and there were rumors of someone spotting a ghost on set. He said the genre bonded the team, and that the sheer weight of the abandoned hospital helped him sink into the role.

Jang closed by saying the cast and staff made the film with great care and that he hopes audiences enjoy it.