[120604] Yoochun’s Interview: Park Yoochun, “Despite Falling In Love In The Drama, It Is Not Han Jimin”

On May 29,
 I met actor Park Yoochun at a restaurant in Seoul, Jongno-gu, Shinmun-ro, he arrived earlier than the scheduled time but was instead waiting in the car. The reason was that, no matter what, to show up before the scheduled time is discourteous. While the interview was carried out, he maintained an earnest face, and clearly separated the times from when he had to laugh and to be serious.

To create a relaxed atmosphere, I joked that, “Just speak in the Joseon tone if you are more comfortable”, he replied, “When leaving a comment in front of the camera, the sageuk tone comes out subconsciously. He said, “Although I try hard to remove the sageuk tone from my speech, it instead backfired” and “I’ll leave it up to time (to solve it)”. Being stubborn yet earnest, it was similar to Lee Gak in the SBS drama ‘Rooftop Prince’ that has recently ended its run. An expression that was a little sullen and an attitude that tried to suppress the smile when having eye contact was no different from the character in the drama.

Park Yoochun has yet to break character. “This time round, this piece of work was well in tune with me. Naturally immersing into (character) and acting as Lee Gak, it was to the extent where there was no burden. This was the first time I acted while being immersed into a character.”

The result of being immersed is great success. In this drama, Park Yoochun perfectly interpreted three characters, the Joseon crown prince Lee Gak, the Lee Gak whom time travelled into modern day to solve the truth of crown princess’ murder, and the reincarnation of Lee Gak, Taeyong. Not just the within the fandom, the experts too were full of praises, and fellow actors find that “singer is more awkward compared to as an actor”.

When asked about the secret behind immersing, he said that it was because he felt that it was ‘interesting’. Although the answer seems brazen, but apart from it, there is no other way to describe it. “The first time I received the script, I flipped it to the first page, and read it all the way till episode 2, episode 3 without stopping. It was really interesting. When it went into filming, due to the thought that I can’t miss any scenes, I read the scripts countless times.”

In April,
the picture of Park Yoochun holding the script uploaded on an online community is proof of it. In the picture captured by a fan, Park Yoochun’s script was worn to the extent that one can tell just by one look of it, it was due to the extensive flipping of the pages. Because he now feels the fun, he learnt to naturally enjoy. This was something not experienced in MBC’s ‘Miss Ripley’.

“While filming ‘Miss Ripley’, I had the thought that I had to work harder and be better than anyone else. Because of the burden, I couldn’t (act) freely. However, this time while filming ‘Rooftop Prince’, because I liked the character, I didn’t have to forcefully capture the emotions and tears would naturally flow out in sad scenes.”

To say that in ‘Miss Ripley’, he was a ‘person who worked hard’, then in ‘Rooftop Prince’, he was a ‘person who enjoyed’. Nearing the end of our interview which had maintained a serious atmosphere throughout, I posed a question, “Working with actor Han Jimin in the drama, I feel that you are compatible with her as well in reality, what do you think?” Park Yochun said, “The one Lee Gak loved is Park Ha (portrayed by Han Jimin), and not Han Jimin” and concluded with a logical answer. He continued and requested, “Write well and don’t let Jimin noona misunderstand”. He appeared so earnest that one can’t help but laugh. That was exactly the kind of ‘comic element’ that Lee Gak possessed.

Source Nate
Credit: Tranlated by maettugi