‘Goryeo Khitan War’ Ji Seung-hyeon’s ‘reasonable’ heyday [D: Interview]

Actor Ji Seung-hyun reached his peak through the ‘Goryeo Khitan War’. He portrayed the role of General Yang Gyu in the ‘Khitan War of Goryeo’ with great weight, drawing enthusiastic responses such as ‘I saw Ji Seung-hyeon again’. However, rather than being happy about the great attention, Ji Seung-hyeon was thankful that it made Yang Gyu known and gave him the impetus to pursue acting in the future.

Ji Seung-hyun met viewers by playing the role of General Yang Gyu in the KBS2 epic historical drama ‘Goryeo Khitan War’, which is currently airing. Although he was not a well-known hero, he received attention from viewers as he won the ‘Battle of Heunghwajin’, blocked the retreating Khitan army, and eventually died a heroic death after being shot all over the body by arrows.

While General Yang Gyu, the hidden hero of Goryeo, was in the spotlight, there was also a lot of praise for Ji Seung-hyeon, who portrayed him with weight. Although he left the ‘Goryeo Khitan War’ along with General Yang Gyu’s warrior, he is receiving the most attention since his debut, receiving rave reviews as ‘the day actor Ji Seung-hyun was born again’.

“When General Yang Gyu faced his final death, the last day of filming was my birthday. He said, ‘It is the day Yang-gyu dies and Ji Seung-hyeon is born.’ While filming the scene where the general is killed, it snowed like it did today. They say that a few days later, in the scene where the body was being moved from another location, it snowed heavily. We used to say among ourselves, ‘General Yang-gyu adjusted the weather.’ I guess the intention is to ‘know me well.’ “I’ve thought about that too.”

As this was a work that I worked on with extraordinary determination, I was even more grateful for the response from viewers. Of course, I was grateful for the interest in ‘actor Ji Seung-hyeon,’ but I felt even more fortunate that General Yang Gyu was properly known. It wasn’t easy to understand because there wasn’t much historical information left, but I was satisfied that the ‘Goryeo Khitan War’ filled in the missing data.

“Hyeonjong himself wrote a letter to (General Yang Gyu’s) family. ‘He was a truly great politician, strategist, and father.’ He said, ‘I will give you rice for the rest of your life,’ and that he wrote this himself. He was a person who was revered to that extent. There was a record that during the reign of King Sejo of the Joseon Dynasty, there were plans to build a shrine to commemorate several Goryeo generals, including General Yang Gyu. Like the current Admiral Yi Sun-sin, he was a person who was so revered, but there was a time in the next few hundred years when that was not the case. “It was good to be known again.”

Ji Seung-hyun gave credit to the production team for the attention paid to General Yang-gyu, saying, “Thanks to the director and staff.” Of course, it is true that, based on historical research, he created war scenes in a spectacular way, attracting the attention of young viewers. Through this, he created various famous scenes, and as these were shared on SNS, the synergy expanded.

“Many of the best scenes occurred in the war scenes. I called the director ‘Yeonsinnim’. He is the god of directing. In addition to this, there were all gods including Saksin (the god of photography) and Josin (the god of lighting). I was able to really trust and move. You have done a very good job of implementing it since the Battle of Heunghwajin. I think we were able to show it to viewers well because all the technical aspects such as directing, editing, and CG came together. General Yang Gyu has achieved truly unbelievable achievements. He was able to withstand an army of 400,000 with only 30,000 men. War scholars say, ‘This is a ridiculous game.’ I think the character Yang-gyu itself was drawn very nicely. I claim to be General Yang Gyu’s public relations ambassador. “I said I would do this well and make it known, and I’m so glad it happened.”

We filled in the details, paying attention to the type of bow and how to hold it. Ji Seung-hyun humbly said that he received attention due to the combination of General Yang-gyu’s achievements with filming, editing, and CG, but without his efforts to pay attention to detail and practice repeatedly to master it, it would not have shined as much as it does now. will be.

“The production team immediately appointed a Korean archery teacher. Horseback riding was also necessary. Most of the actors had to ride horses, but next to General Yang Gyu, there was a sign that said, ‘Must be really good at riding.’ He shot an arrow while running and practiced this a lot. I practiced carrying the bow in the car and at home so that I could quickly string the bow, like loading a gun. “He practiced a lot because he wanted to show that he was really trained, not just imitating.”

His accumulated skills over the years were also a great help in expressing Yang Gyu’s heaviness. It was entirely up to him to properly express the weight of the Goryeo hero in an incredibly stable manner for his first attempt at a historical drama.

“Even after filming the movie ‘Wind,’ he didn’t sing to me much. He says his voice is good now, but I heard that his voice was too heavy when he played the role of a friend. Some people asked why my voice was so harsh. There were many times when I felt intimidated. So she had a lot of experience playing small roles. That seems to be nourishing. I tried being a police officer and a gangster. I also played a role where I bumped into the main character and fell. I don’t think there’s really a role I haven’t played. I think those things have helped me become more flexible now.”

From ‘Lovers’ to ‘Goryeo Khitan War’. Although he received attention with a series of historical dramas, he had no intention of continuing his popularity with similar challenges. We were able to guess the reason for his ‘long run’ from his promise to show that he is not satisfied by taking on new challenges again.

“My next work will be a modern drama. Even though I wasn’t, I played a lot of strong roles. I wanted to escape, so I tried romantic comedy and web dramas. Of course, we are not in a position to choose yet. I try my best to do everything given to me, but if I do something similar, I end up acting out of inertia. Of course, I do it with all my heart, but there are technical aspects involved. I think I will become lazy then. I also want to avoid similar things. I wanted to play diverse and broad characters. I had no intention of doing two historical dramas in a row. “My dream is to try variations.”