[INTERVIEW] Actor Cho Seung-woo - Part 1

Cho Seung-woo [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

He pretended to whine that he has a harder time trying to cry when acting since getting a so-called tear-provoking mole taken out and said that to appear in projects in the genre of romance, he would now imagine himself going to the military. Hence, although Cho Seung-woo seemed worn out from the interviews he had carried out since early in the day, he produced answers that made people laugh. He even went as far as to lay on the table he was sitting at when telling a joke. Yet this actor who can be defined purely by movies and musicals was serious when talking about his sense of responsibility as the one with the name with the strongest ticket power in the musical industry and the time he spent to become a baseball player, for his role in film "Perfect Game," which has made him good enough to join an actual baseball team. Below are excerpts from the interview with Cho who made a moment more perfect than the perfect game from that day in 1987 in "Perfect Game."

<#10_QMARK#> You look tired. As if you're pitcher Choi Dong-won after a 'perfect game' on the mound.
Cho Seung-woo: I feel like dying. I'm really not myself right now. I'm having an even harder time than when I was shooting the movie because I'm doing a movie and musical at the same time, like I did for musical "Jekyll & Hyde" and movie "Malaton." I've been doing interviews since 10 in the morning but I've been saying the same things so much that what I said at first has changed now. [laughs]

<#10_QMARK#> But the reaction to the film hasn't been bad and there's rumor that you'd been satisfied with the movie since the moment you started shooting it.
Cho: There are usually two reasons that I'll say, "I think this movie will come out well. Things are going well, it's been shot well." And it's that it really is good or I'm hoping it will be. In the case of "Perfect Game," we used special equipment and it was moving because it had a strong scenario so I was confident it would go down in baseball film history.

<#10_QMARK#> And how does the finished product look to you?
Cho: When I first saw it at the press preview, I became extremely depressed. I was just sort of in a daze because I couldn't laugh and just didn't know what sort of expression I should put on. It was a project I liked so much and had become my everyday life that it felt similar to having put on the last show for a musical I had worked on for five to six months. I was thinking, 'Do I really have to let go of this movie now?' 'Do I have to forget about it now that it's out in the world?'

Cho Seung-woo [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

<#10_QMARK#> How was having to train for your role? Even the late Choi Dong-won's family said that your pitching form was similar to Choi's from when he was a player.
Cho: I had liked baseball since I was young. I played catch a lot and I'd been a pitcher as well. And my balls had always been fast but I didn't have good control. That's why when I was getting trained this time around, I was determined to become good enough to become a pitcher for the league for adults. That's also why when I joined in on the first training session, I had high expectations but all they made me do was exercise my lower body. And I almost cried because they made me exercise my lower body so much. I also wasn't allowed to throw balls. My coach would wrap a towel around my hand and make me do 100 shadow motions a day. Then I'd scowl at him and ask when I'd get to throw balls. And even when I started throwing balls, he taught me bit by bit, in a very teasing way. I honestly got annoyed a bit as well because if the posture to my lower body went wrong, he made me do shadow motions and lower body exercises all over again. [laughs]

<#10_QMARK#> Didn't you feel a sense of rivalry with Yang Dong-geun who in the movie, played your character's rival Sun Dong-yeol?
Cho: Yang Dong-geun has danced a lot, is well built, and was already in good shape physically. He is stocky and flexible as well. But he'd never thrown a ball before whereas although I lacked in the physical sense, I had thrown a ball before so we had different strengths and weaknesses. I can throw my balls at a speed of about 104 kilometers an hour now. And I can throw curveballs, half forkballs and sinkers. I think about 30 percent of my balls go in the direction I want them to now. About three out of every ten balls go into the strike zone. [laughs]

<#10_QMARK#> Then I'm sure you must be a pretty threatening presence to your batters in the adult league.
Cho: I've played in about three games now because I joined late but I only have two losses so far. Two losses with an opposite home run, a deadball and lots of hits. [laughs] But I've also thrown about ten-something strikeouts including the ones at practice games. And this comes out in the movie but I like the sound of when a ball pierces into the catcher's mitt. People who know how to grip balls properly and have thrown them before know the sound of where their balls are going. Pitchers say that sound is exhilarating. And with it, one can tell whether a pitcher's ball is slow or fast. When I hear that sound when I throw it, man, it's thrilling.

<#10_QMARK#> Is there a reason you play in the ordinary adults league when you could join the league with celebrities?
Cho: Because I'm an outsider. [laughs] I don't have that many close celebrity friends. And it's fun playing in the adults league. There's one guy who runs a restaurant in Chunggye Mountain, another guy who sells clothes in Dongdaemun and another guy who sells phones. It's really a lot of fun. I go to church every Sundays and then go to play baseball every two weeks. I think baseball will be the only thing I do once I'm done with musical "Zorro."

※ Any copying, republication or redistribution of 10Asia's content is expressly prohibited without prior consent of 10Asia. Copyright infringement is subject to criminal and civil penalties.