Keep on running

WHEN YOUNG Hollywood actors Lee Ki-hong and Thomas Brodie-Sangster emerged bleary-eyed from the arrivals hall at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport last week, the first thing they saw was a wall of equally young screaming fans. It was barely 4am and the pair appeared surprised, though delighted, at such an enthusiastic welcome.
In Asia to promote their new movie, “The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials”, the second instalment in the dystopian adventure, they were less surprised the following evening when yet another wall of fans awaited them at the premiere of the movie at the Megabox Theatre in Seoul’s Gangnam area.
 “We expected there would be lots of fans at the premiere but not at the airport but I was still shocked,” Brodie-Sangster later told XP.
“I mean, I’ve done a few red carpets but I’ve never experienced anything like this before. It felt nuts,” added the 25-year-old actor, who showed his appreciation by signing just about everything that was thrust at him and smiling gamely for selfies.
Adapted from James Dashner’s sci-fi novels for young adults, the first film, which was released last year, centred on boys trapped in an open expanse called the Glade, which is surrounded by high stonewalls and enclosed by a dangerous maze that changes its pattern every night. When young Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) wakes up at the Glade and remembers nothing, he leads his fellow captives on a successful escape.
“The Maze Runner” is yet another entry in the spate of adapations of young adult novels, following the success of such franchises as “Twilight”, “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent”.
“The Scorch Trials” picks up right where the first part left off. Thomas and the surviving Gladers including Minho (Lee) and Newt (Brodie-Sangster) are out of the Maze and being fed and accommodated by a group of men in the new compound. But Thomas again discovers something weird and soon he and his fellow Gladers are facing their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organisation known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate post-apocalyptic landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles.
“Newt is the voice of reason, the glue that holds the group together,” says Brodie-Sangster of his character. “He trusts Thomas, as he is the one who led the group out of the Glade and gave them freedom for the first time.
“But Thomas does things on impulse and so when Thomas wants to escape again, Newt questions whether Thomas is suffering from insecurity about being controlled or whether he wants us to break out of the compound for the right reasons,” the actor continues.
“And then we are in the desert called the Scorch, where it is hard to survive. We are stuck there, and Thomas has no plan, It’s insanity.”
 Lee describes Minho as the group’s protector, the muscle of the team. “I think my character was inspired by a real-life person who is related to the writer,” he says.
“I’m dying to meet him because he is the reason why the character exists, he is the reason why I have a job,” adds 28-year-old Lee whose visit last week marked his first return to South Korea in 10 years.
The success of the first movie sent all its young stars up the ladder to stardom and catapulted O’Brien, also known for his role in the TV series “Teen Wolf”, Lee and Brodie-Sangster, into the sphere of instant recognition.
“The Maze Runner” was Lee’s debut film and won him fans from all over the world but especially in Asia. Brodie-Sangster admits that he is still recognised from romantic comedy “Love Actually”, in which as an 11-year old, he played Liam Neeson’s lovesick son Sam. He has appeared in many projects since, including the third and fourth seasons of cult TV series “Game of Thrones”.
“Being part of a movie franchise is great but the biggest thing I will take away from it is not the box office success but the friendships I’ve made,” he says. “I also like that the movie is not American or English but represents people from all around the world. It’s not set in any particular country either, just somewhere on Earth.”
The film was shot in the desert near Albuquerque, New Mexico, in an inhospitable area at high altitude, with low oxygen and extremely hot weather.
For his part, the Korean-American Lee says he particularly likes the film’s message, which he feels shows that today’s young people, all too often dissed for bad attitudes, can fig
 ure out the good guys from the bad guys and want to do the right thing.
He admits, though, that being an Asian actor is not easy.
 “Being a Korean-American actor in the US, I feel responsible for the image I portray of Asian-Americans. I’m fortunate to be able to play a very strong masculine role in this movie. I think Hollywood is changing slowly in term of the status of Asian-Americans in the media. I feel very lucky and blessed to be here today. The actor Will Smith once said that because we are a minority in America, we have to work twice harder to make it and I feel the same way. It’s not fair but it’s what it is,” says Lee who also appears in the Netflix comedy series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”.
Asked by the trilogy’s final entry, “The Maze Runner: The Death Cure”, Brodie-Sangster says that he only knows that shooting might start next February. “And I think I can safely say we are all looking forward to it,” he grins.
 SURVIVE
THE SCORCH
- “The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” opens in cinemas next Thursday.
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