Asphalt Man

Asphalt Man
DVD Cover
Also known as	The Man on the Asphalt The Man from the Asphalt Street Dream Racers
Based on	Asphalt Man by Huh Young-man
Written by	Park Hyun-joo
Directed by	Lee Jang-soo
Starring	Lee Byung-hun Jung Woo-sung Choi Jin-sil Lee Young-ae
Composer	Choi Kyung-shik
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Production locations	Korea United States
Running time	Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 (KST)
Original release
Network	Seoul Broadcasting System
Release	May 17 (1995-05-17) – July 6, 1995 (1995-07-06)

Korean name
Hangul	아스팔트 사나이
Revised Romanization	Aseupalteu Sanai
McCune–Reischauer	Asŭp‘alt‘ŭ Sanai

Asphalt Man (Korean: 아스팔트 사나이; RR: Aseupalteu Sanai) is a 1995 South Korean television series starring Lee Byung-hun, Jung Woo-sung, Choi Jin-sil, and Lee Young-ae. Based on the 1991 comic of the same title by manhwa artist Huh Young-man, it aired on SBS from May 17 to July 6, 1995, on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 16 episodes.

Plot

Kang Dong-joon (Lee Byung-hun) is a young car designer who dreams of starting his own car company in Korea. He tries to get assistance from his father (Park In-hwan), but the family is in financial trouble. His younger brother Dong-seok (Jung Woo-sung) hates their father, and leaves the country to become a car racer in the United States. Meanwhile, his sister Dong-hee (Lee Young-ae) also flees to the U.S. after conceiving a child with a U.S. army soldier.

Cast

Kang family

• Lee Byung-hun as Kang Dong-joon
• Jung Woo-sung as Kang Dong-seok (brother)
• Lee Young-ae as Kang Dong-hee (sister)
• Park In-hwan as Mr. Kang (father)
• Choi Jin-sil as Oh Hwa-ryun (Dong-joon's wife)

Other people

• Huh Joon-ho as Han Ki-soo
• Kim Soo-mi as Natasha
• Jo Min-su as Bae Jong-ok
• Kim Soo-ji as Song-yi (Natasha's daughter)
• Lee Jung-gil as Son Ki Joon
• Byun Hee-bong
• Song Jae-ho
• Daniel Beauchamp as Tom (American Soldier)

Production

Asphalt Man began shooting in late 1994 with an estimated production budget of ₩1 billion per episode. Filming took 5 months, at the Hyundai auto factory plant in Ulsan and in Dongducheon, including 45 days of overseas location shoots in the United States, which was rare at that time for a Korean drama. The U.S. scenes were filmed in Death Valley and Silver Peak, Alpine County in California. The snow rally in the drama's climax was shot in Utah, though several cast and crew members reportedly suffered from oxygen deficiency.

As the drama's official sponsor, Hyundai Motor Company contributed more than ₩1.2 billion. Various models of Hyundai Motors were featured in the drama as concept cars, production models and Rally vehicles, such as the Accent and the Elantra/Avante. In particular, the Tiburon was first introduced in the scene of Dong-joon's Death Valley Rally.

External links

• Asphalt Man official SBS website (in Korean) (archived)
• Asphalt Man at SBS Global