When going gets tough, Rain recalls mum
South Korean singer-actor Rain (real name Jung Ji-hoon) said the tough training he underwent to shoot his new picture, Ninja Assassin, reminded him of his late mother.
In the film, Rain (right) plays an assassin named Raizo, a street punk turned trained killer working for a secret society who returns to his old gang to plot revenge after his best friend is executed.
Ninja Assassin took eight months to shoot, during which the 27-year-old received six hours of wushu and other intensive fitness training daily to maintain his physique, on top of the punishing filming schedule.
'We started filming as early as seven every morning and it went on until 10 o'clock at night,' the star said at a film promotion event in Seoul this week. 'When we [had] completed the scenes each day, I would start my training routine while everyone was asleep. And the next day, I would get up at 7am to start filming again. It was tough.
'But when my body was tired of all the training, I [would] think of my mother,' he said.
'I remember when I was little, she worked from 5am until midnight every day, but when she came home she still had all the household chores to finish, and often she only got to bed near 2am. A few hours later, she would head off to work again.
'When I think about the hardship for my mother, I can bear anything, no matter how tough.'
Ninja Assassin opens on Nov 26
