Rain's First Villain Role Lingers in Fans' Minds

Actor Jung Ji-hoon attempted an acting transformation in the Netflix series 'Hunting Dogs' Season 2, taking on the role of the villain 'Im Baek-jung' for the first time in his 28-year career. He described the role as "​agonizing", revealing that he put a lot of thought into playing a character with the opposite disposition to his own.

Jung Ji-hoon confessed that it took a long time to shed the character of 'Im Baek-jung', stating, "The aftereffects still remain." He admitted that at times, the persona of Baek-jung would surface even with his family, to the point where his wife, actress Kim Tae-hee, noticed the change in his eyes. He recalled instances where harsh words would habitually slip out in situations he wouldn't normally get angry about, adding, "​I had to keep my wits about me."

To build the character, Jung Ji-hoon defined Baek-jung as a narcissistic, runaway train-like figure with anger management issues and studied the psychology of international murderers. Director Kim Joo-hwan aided in bringing out the character's naturalism by giving Jung Ji-hoon directions like "​If you want to kill, kill." Jung Ji-hoon explained that he came to understand the character by discovering a commonality in Baek-jung's inferiority complex towards Geon-woo, which was "​the desire to be recognized as a person."

For his physical transformation, Jung Ji-hoon gained 6-7kg to achieve an imposing physique. He shared, "​The process of building a body like a killing machine was painful," and expressed a desire to stop doing nude scenes after this project. He also revealed the difficulties of action acting, stating, "​I filmed day by day, taking painkillers."

Jung Ji-hoon explained that despite receiving villain offers in the past, he had "needed a justification", which is why he was cautious about acting transformations. He had always wanted to play a villain as an actor and felt he needed to "​completely wash away" his previous image of playing only kind and innocent roles to create a reversal. He cited his trust in director Kim Joo-hwan and his anticipation for the project as reasons for choosing 'Hunting Dogs' Season 2 for his first villain role.