Jung Woo-sung “The moment you become aware of what’s cool, it stops being cool. Meaning is given and cannot be forced.” [Interview M]

We met Jung Woo-sung, who played Lee Tae-shin, commander of the Capital Security Command, in the movie ‘Spring in Seoul’ and portrayed a character faithful to the military’s original mission of protecting the country and its people. Lee Tae-shin is a person who stands in direct opposition to Chun Doo-gwang, who launched a military rebellion with the goal of power, and on the day of December 12, he fought until the end against the rebels who even brought forward troops to Seoul.

Jung Woo-sung, who is already working on his fifth project with director Kim Seong-soo, said, “The first time I saw this work was because of a request to monitor the scenario. No matter what the work, I always ask for monitoring, so this time, regardless of whether I appear or not, I read the scenario and thought, “You’re doing a really difficult piece of work,”he said, expressing his first impression of the scenario.

After hearing about the casting process, he expected that an offer would come to him soon. However, at that time, it was right after filming ‘Hunt’ and in ‘Hunt’, he played the role of one of the commanders of the military unit that received the order to suppress Gwangju. In & # 39; Night in Seoul & # 39;, he refused, saying it was burdensome because he had to play the role of fighting to the end against the group that ordered the suppression of Gwangju.

However, it is said that director Kim Seong-soo persistently persuaded him that Lee Tae-shin would be portrayed as a character depicting human suffering, and he decided to appear because of the director’s cool-headed view of the character.

From the perspective of an actor who has to play a character, he gives meaning to the character and develops affection and sympathy, but director Kim Seong-su tried to exclude the actor’s feelings toward the character. He believed that the director’s direction of portraying Lee Tae-shin as a rational character faithful to his duty as a soldier was right, rather than portraying him as a character with added emotions, so he relied heavily on the director for his acting.

When asked if the director had any special requests for Lee Tae-shin’s portrayal, Jung Woo-sung hesitated for a moment and then said, “The video he sent me telling me to prepare for Lee Tae-shin was of me doing a friendly interview with the UNHCR. I keep sending my videos, saying, ‘I want Lee Tae-shin to be like this.’This is me. “I had no choice but to say, ‘What do you want?’” he confessed honestly.

He said, “When I thought about it, it was difficult to choose each word during the interview. I think you said that Lee Tae-shin had to choose words while understanding the lives of the members and that Lee Tae-shin was cautious when conducting interviews that elicited empathy. At first, I was confused by the director’s order, but after understanding the intention and the reason, I learned the tone and manner of speaking calmly when reacting to an incident and thinking deeply about the meaning of why the reason for saying this as a water police commander is valid. “I applied it to my acting,” he said, revealing the main point of character acting.

Therefore, Jung Woo-sung, who portrayed a calm person who stands up to the emotional outburst of Jeon Doo-gwang’s character, said, “Because the other person had a runaway personal selfishness, Lee Tae-shin tried to deal with it rationally. He confronted the approaching opponent by taking a step back, and made an effort to look, observe, and understand.”He explained in one understandable way what kind of character Lee Tae-shin was and how he portrayed such a character.

Most of the actors appearing in ‘Spring in Seoul’ played real people. However, the motifs were taken from real people and actual events, and the specific content was created through imagination. That’s why Jung Woo-sung said, “I tried to distance myself from studying the incident and reject it,”and that he did not study specifically about December 12 or explore the real people.

He said, “I didn’t think that this work showed the ending of an event, but rather wanted to show humans within the framework of the event. The director was exploring human nature. I could see what kind of burden he had as a human being, what choices he made and what concerns he had. “It was not important to determine winners and losers, but the core exploration of humanity,” he said, revealing the meaning of “Spring in Seoul.”

Regarding his relationship with director Kim Seong-soo, Jung Woo-sung said, “It’s a love-hate relationship,”but added, “He was the first person I recognized as a colleague while working on a movie, and he taught me what work is by putting it into practice on set.””To me, he is the best senior and colleague, and a very annoying and beloved director,” he said, dripping with affection and trust.

There are many prominent actors in this movie, with a total of 68 main roles, and while he said that their harmony was good, he said, “I thought that the director who made so many actors shine in their respective positions was terrible.”He praised director Kim Seong-soo, saying, “He is a person with great persistent energy who continuously observes actors and detects where the matching points between the character and actor will be.”

The character Tae-shin Lee shown in ‘Spring in Seoul’ was a wonderful person from his appearance to his beliefs and actions. Moreover, I thought that Jung Woo-sung’s portrayal of such a cool character made it even more cool. He said, “I don’t know because coolness is something that is evaluated by a third party.” At some point, the moment I became conscious of being cool, it stopped being cool. I think it’s a cool scene, so if I act consciously, all the coolness disappears, so I just try to act faithfully to my emotions. Evaluation is done by the audience. He said, “Just as if I am conscious of being a star, people will know that I have star disease, so I shouldn’t be conscious of being cool.”

He said, “I am not conscious of that at all when shooting a movie, but I am very conscious of it when shooting a commercial. The directing also asks you to have a nice smile, and when you smile or do something, everyone on set claps and cheers, saying you’re cool. But the moment I became conscious of that, the corners of my mouth trembled when I smiled, even though I was acting briefly.” He made people laugh by making an honest confession that there was a moment when he was conscious of his own coolness.

Jung Woo-sung’s belief that “you should not be conscious of it”was equally applied to questions about the meaning of the movie. “In my 20s and 30s, I found the meaning of my work and was very conscious of the significance of working on it. But I’m starting to feel like this isn’t important. I especially felt that way while working on this work. Meaning is something that is given; it is something that I cannot emphasize or convey. “Meaning arises when someone sees it, feels it, and the majority sympathizes with it.” He once again felt cool when he said something that was irrefutably correct.

The film ‘Spring in Seoul’, which depicts the 9 hours of desperate action to prevent a rebellion by new military forces that occurred in the capital city of Seoul on December 12, 1979, will be released on November 22.

iMBC Kim Kyung-hee | Photo provided by Plus M Entertainment