[INTERVIEW] Actor Jung Woo-sung - 2

10: You also showed us a quite comical side to you in "A Good Rain Knows". The scene where you pretend to impersonate May's Chinese and ask her what she's talking about. Was it ad-lib?
Jung: It was. I came up with it while rehearsing. People usually talk in their own language when they're in a hurry. So I came up with it thinking of that.

10: "Rain", Jang Dong-gun's "Good Morning President" and Lee Byung-hun's "I Come with the Rain" will all be released at similar times. You must feel some sort of competition.
Jung: There is no competition because a movie is what it is for itself. We're not playing a sport such as running a 100-meter race. Could films which aim at delivering different emotions be considered be competing against each other? Like "Haeundae" and "Take Off" did, I hope all of us also do well and deliver the emotions we want to the audience. It's it great news on behalf of the Korean film industry.

10: But there must be some competition between the actors. For example, what is the meaning of Jang Dong-gun to you? He is the one who you are most often compared to.
Jung: I think people say Jang is good looking and that I look handsome. I talked about this recently during an interview with TV personality Park Kyung-lim too but I think it's good that we can be compared. I think I would be lonely if I was unchallenged. There is a sort of stimulus with I get from feeling that there is someone other than myself who is recognized. Of course, I sometimes say "Shoot!" when he takes away a TV commercial I used to do. (laugh)

10: But on the other hand, you took away a commercial from him -- Chung Jung-won. (laugh) So we're curious to know what the image you have of Jung-won. What sort of woman do you hope she is?
Jung: A woman who looks pretty but in an average sort of way. I think it would be possible for her to be expressed into a variety of looks. That's it for now. I can't really answer too easily to that question because I'm getting cornered.

10: Since you mentioned that you're being cornered, when on earth are you planning on getting married?
Jung: Well, there's a baby in the picture which means I'll be a father so I do have an idea of how old we'll both be when it happens. That's why I feel like I'm being cornered and feel like I'm sort of starting to rush.

10: Do you have an urge to have raise a happy family?
Jung: Yes, I want to be the father of a happy family.

10: I think you'd make a great single man even in your 40s and 50s.
Jung: It may seem like that on the outside but I think it would be depressing living alone at that age. I know because there are a lot of bachelors around me. (laugh)


10: It's because you look younger than your age. You don't seem human to us, the way we consider Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp.
Jung: Well, they're not aliens either, right? And they have families. Would that mean their children are from Andromeda? (laugh)

10: Well, it seems you're aging but in what aspects do you think you're different from when you were in your 20s versus being in your 30s?
10: People say I seem to be more at ease now but I don't think I've changed that much. My values and establishment of my self were things I had though about since I had young because I thought they were the only things which could protect me and make me who I am when I had nothing else to boast about. But who would take me seriously back then, talking about such serious matters at a young age? The reaction wasn't so great -- as if they thought I was pretending to be cool -- and I too ended up acting sensitively toward them. Now people take me seriously since I'm older. And it's been a while we've all kept an eye on each other. That's why the conversations are natural.

10: You seem to think a lot. Are there any particular scenes or endings you would like to show when you become a movie director?
Jung: I'm an actor so I don't think up images just for the image itself. I rather think about how an actor will show an image when he turns around feeling a certain emotion or the angle his face when he does so. I've always liked imaging up stories. Even before I debuted, I used to snicker to myself imagining that I was the main character in a movie. That's how I ended up writing the narration for character Min in movie "Beat" and fearlessly jumped into scenario-writing. Then I thought I want to become a director as I started thinking up actual images.

10: Is there a particular actor you would want to use as the main character?
Jung: I'm not sure. I don't know who it will be but they won't have an easy time working for a director who has worked with some of the toughest directors such as Kim Sung-soo or Hur Jin-ho. (laugh) I'm going to play the main character. The level of acting is not going to be easy so I think I'll be in a better mind doing it myself.

10: Lastly, I'm curious to know whether you could still put on the nervous look in your eyes like you did with Min from "Beat", although you are much more at ease.
Jung: Would it be better if I sat in a classroom? (laugh) The film ended with Min dying but I personally didn't let go of him. I was always disgruntled with the fact that he was killed in a way which sort of makes him a hero but doesn't give us any answers although he was a character who represented a class in society which has been shunned from reality. So many people like him have overcome their pains and come out into society. So I too have let Min continue to mature inside my heart.

10: Then do you think you're acting the part of a grown-up Min?
Jung: He could be inside me or we could have become synchronized.

Reporter : Wee Geun-woo eight@10asia.co.kr
Photographer : Chae ki-won ten@10asia.co.kr
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@asiae.co.kr, Jang Kyung-Jin three@10asia.co.kr