Translations of OSEN Interview
Empress Ki's Ji Chang-wook:
Ha Ji-won as Sunbae, Noona or Lover...
The perfect pairing of Ji Chang-wook,
a man whom viewers wish to protect, and the handsome and trustworthy Ha
Ji-won, lead to Empress Ki's high and widespread popularity.
One day in May, JCW accepted OSEN's interview, and revealed his awkward and strange first meeting with HJW.
I have a deep impression of the
first take. It was really hard to adapt...I never thought I would feel this
awkward. Ji-won noona and I are both shy of strangers especially, yet had to
film scenes where we were always bickering together. The first scene was horse
racing with Seung-nyang on the beach, and met HJW for the first time on the
scene. Because she is a sunbae who is also an actress, I did not know what to
say to her. I remember my first sentence to her was, "Noona, you're also
my sunbae from university." Noona just replied, "Oh, really?"
and I said yes. We entered filming soon after, and I didn't know how to bring
us two closer.
Afterwards,as filming progressed,
the two naturally became closer. JCW, who plays Tahwan, had many scenes where
he was very playful around HJW's Seung-nyang. Making jokes in front of the
camera, they started becoming more relaxed with each other almost unknowingly.
They would chat alot in private, often discussing issues relating to the drama.
JCW sees HJW as a very close sunbae, noona and actress. When faced with the
reporter's joking question "You two have good rapport. Why not try
dating?" JCW solemnly rejected any chance of it happening.
Truthfully, there was another reason
to JCW and HJW's awkward first meeting. Because JCW completed his education in
all-boys schools, he is very cautious around female sunbaes and colleagues, a
complete contrast with the delicate Emperor image he portrays in the drama. Due
to him growing up with the boys, JCW embodies the true charm of masculinity.
JCW also talked about his other male sunbaes in acting. One such person who is
extremely close with him is Jo Jin-woong (Bruce from KBS' Sons of Sol
Pharmacy House). They shared many tips for acting together when JCW first
debuted, and they still maintain a close friendship to this day.
Thinking back to the days, hyung
(referring to JJW) was a great actor who was older than me by ten years, yet
oten took me out to chat. I always asked him questions about acting, and we
would ponder it together. Once when I thought one of the scenes was too hard, I
got really emotional, and hyung cried along with me. While filming "Sons
of Sol Pharmacy House", I learnt a lot and also matured, thanks to my
sunbaes such as Lee Pil-mo hyung (Dae-poong), Hyun-joo hyung
(Jin-poong), Sang-jin hyung (Sun-poong), Yoo-sun noona
(Bok-shil), Park Sun-young noona among others.
JCW has receieved a lot of offers
recently, often leading him to think about the words JJW gave him, "When
you reject an offer, you must feel as if you're cutting off a piece of your
flesh, and properly decline it."
"When I heard what he said, I
only nodded, because I hadn't had any experience of it. To me, it's just a
role, but it would mean so much more to the creator. Creating a precious and
worthy character, and taking the initiative to contact me is something I am
very grateful to producers for."
Returning
to his latest production, the ending of "Empress Ki" is an
unavoidable topic. When JCW received the script, he didn't even know he would die
in the end. Under the conditions where the ending was under wraps, there were
all sorts of rumours, which caused him to feel quite confused. However, through
conversations with the scriptwriter, he found out his character would end with
death.
I once asked the scriptwriters how
the ending would be resolved, and the scriptwriter asked if Tahwan dying would
be a better option. Because there were many threads that would lead to a happy
ending, so maybe the death of Tahwan would overshadow the the happiness....yet
in the end it was still a sad ending. Seung nyang was in grief, Tahwan didn't
fare any better, and Golta had a pitiful end.
While filming for "Empress
Ki", one scene that left a deep impression on JCW was the time when Tahwan
became crazy. Before acting, I was still working out how to portray the
character's 180 degree change properly. Thankfully, I managed to complete the
scene that felt a lot like a stage performance.
The scene where a half-crazy Tahwan
killed one of the generals required much thought, because not only was it the
first scene after a 5 year time jump, it was also the end of an episode. I was
worried about how to make a big impact on the viewers. Filming at the time was
really interesting, because the scene was very long, and it was filmed without
breaks using a long take. It felt like a public stage performance.
We're
near the date when JCW's fan meet is to be held in Japan. Due to Empress Ki's
success over there, JCW has also received a lot of love from his Japanese fans.
Other than the fan meets, there's also musicals and movie filming on his
schedule. Being someone who really likes to take a rest, what does JCW want to
do after filming?
I really want to go travelling, or
rest at home, or get together with my friends for some drinks. A cafe with a
terrace, where I can just sit around lazily chatting with my friends would be
good. I exerted a lot of my emotions during the 8 months when I was busily
filming Empress Ki. After completing all the things on my schedule, hopefully
I'll have some free time then. But then, even if I want to rest really badly
now, 3 weeks would be the maximum, as I'll be itching to start acting again.
END OF OSEN INTERVIEW--
EXCERPTS
FROM OTHER INTERVIEWS
Q: Have you kept in contact with Ha
Ji-won?
A: We've talked to each other. I
told her to buy some food for me (laughs). There's no free time, so we haven't
met up. She said she'll be going to America soon, and said she'll buy me nice
food once she returns.
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It was really interesting working
with the 3 actresses. Ha Ji-won always had a smile on her face. Every
week, she had to stay up late for about 5 days, but never complained. I was
positively influenced by her enthusiasm and energy when it came to acting. Im
Ju-eun sshi entered the crew quite late, so it was a bit hard, but she was very
responsible and acted until the end. She has a nice and outgoing personality. I
got a long quite well with Baek Jin-hee sshi. Because Tahwan despised her a
lot, I often felt sorry for her.
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Q: Have you withdrawn from Empress
Ki yet?
A: I'm in the process. It'll probably
come full circle once all the interviews are finished.
Q: You were probably quite emotional
after filming the last scene.
A: I was still reluctant to let go.
Even though I was supposed to sleep well afterwards, but whenever I thought
that I would never be able to portray this character again, or sit on the
throne again, I felt really strange. This is why I think humans are really
crafty - they're never pleased with what they have.
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Q: How well do you interact with the
scriptwriters?
A: At first, the actor to portray
Tahwan wasn't me. But because of some reasons, it became me. The scriptwriter
was actually worried if I could "portray the character well," because
there were a lot of people that were against me playing the part and worrying
about the outcome. When I entered the crew, I still felt that kind of
atmosphere around me, so I set myself a goal to act as best I could. On the day
of the premiere, the scriptwriter called me and said "I'm very pleased.
You acted well."
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Original article: Mydaily
Kor-Chi translations credit Baidu
English translations by yoonmi66Source: JCW soompi
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