Mr. Go () is a 2013 South Korean sport-comedy film written and directed by Kim Yong-hwa based on Huh Young-man's 1984 comic The 7th Team (). About a gorilla who becomes a baseball superstar and his 15-year-old female manager, it stars Xu Jiao and Sung Dong-il. Mr. Go was the first South Korean film to be fully shot in 3D. A co-production between South Korea and China, it was released simultaneously in both countries on July 17 and 18, respectively.
Plot
Young circus ringmaster Wei Wei has only bat-swinging gorilla Ling Ling to depend on as her only family member and friend, when her grandfather dies in the Great Sichuan earthquake, leaving behind an insurmountable debt. When a loan shark threatens to sell Ling Ling and the circus kids to cover the debt, Wei Wei has no choice but to allow Ling Ling to be scouted in the Korean Baseball League by the materialistic sports agent Sung. Ling Ling, now dubbed "Mr. Go," becomes an instant hit with fans and leads his team Doosan Bears to a miraculous winning streak.
Cast
Xu Jiao as Zhao Wei Wei
Sung Dong-il as Seong Chung-su
Joe Odagiri as Ito Hiroshi, owner of Chunichi Dragons
Kim Hee-won as Lin Xiaogang, loan shark
Kim Kang-woo as Kim, Doosan Bears general manager
Kim Jung-tae as NC Dinos general manager
Kim Eung-soo as Jin Yoon-tae, Korea Baseball Organization commissioner
Jung In-gi as Gong In-gu, KBO secretary-general
Jo Jae-yoon as Orthopedic doctor
Kim Heung-rae as Ling Ling/Mr. Go
Lee Jun-hyeok as Leiting/Zeroz
Kim Bo-yoon as Sunny
Kim Gi-cheon as Circus manager
Kim Go-eun as Xiuni/Sunny, circus orphan
Kim Ye-won as Zhuni/Junny, circus orphan
Kim Hong-su as Lin Xiaogang's henchman
Shin Se-yong as Bamboo tube man
Na Ju-ho as Fan signal man
Tamura Hiroto as Inoue Daichi, owner of Yomiuri Giants
Kim Jeong-seok as Doosan Bears director
Seong Mun-su as NC Dinos director
Kim Ji-young as young Weiwei
Jesse Day as Frederic Pearl, Primate Protection Association representative
Yun Yuk as Sports commentator
Kim Hak-ryeong as Sports commentator
Yu Seung-ho as Sportscaster
Lee Jae-ho as Sportscaster
Kim In-woo as Lotte Giants general manager
Song Min-soo as NC Dinos coach
Cha Jong-ho as Gang member
Kim Tae-joon as Judge
Kim In-cheol as Judge
Ham Jin-seong as Doosan Bears bench member
Byun Hee-bong as Weiwei's grandfather
Han Joon-woo as Reporter
Ma Dong-seok as Baseball commentator
Jung Ji-yoon as herself, home-shopping show host
Kim Jung-eun as herself, TV musical show MC
Shin-Soo Choo as himself, baseball player
Hyun-jin Ryu as himself, baseball player
Kim Sung-joo as himself
Production
Kim Yong-hwa, director of box-office hits 200 Pounds Beauty (2006) and Take Off (2009), decided to adapt Huh Young-man's 28-year-old comic after seeing the YouTube video of Christian the lion, which demonstrated that humans are capable of taming animals. But for the film to work, the gorilla had to look like a living creature. Kim decided to shoot entirely in 3D, and of the 2,000 shots in the film, 1,000 are special effects shots of the gorilla Ling Ling. For four years, a team of more than 500 animators and CG professionals led by visual effects director Jeong Seong-jin developed motion capture technology, facial motion capture technology and a digital fur production program to make the gorilla as realistic as possible, followed by another year of editing. The images were so precise and delicate that all the 3.8 million hairs on Ling Ling could sway with the wind.
With consultant Kim Tae-yong of Rhythm and Hues Studios (famous for its work on Life of Pi), the production team established a new company Dexter Studios (with 180 employees), which created the software Zelos System to process large amounts of data efficiently so that the film cost 10 percent of the budget demanded by most Hollywood movies. The budget was (or ), with spent on visual effects. 25% of the budget (or ) came from Chinese investor Huayi Brothers. It also received from the International Co-Production Incentive Support 2013, a project run by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), and director Kim spent from his own pocket.
Music
The movie's theme song "Bye" was sung by Kim Tae-yeon, a member of Girls' Generation. Composed by music director Lee Jae-hak, "Bye" had a Korean version and a Chinese version. The score was recorded by the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra at Sony Pictures' Scoring Stage in Los Angeles, CA.