With the recent conclusion of Bad and Crazy, Wi Ha Joon recounts his challenging and rewarding moments through an interview.
In tvN’s Friday-Saturday drama Bad and Crazy, Wi Ha Joon takes the role of K, the alter ego of Ryu Su Yeol portrayed by Lee Dong Wook.
Wi Ha Joon’s character in the drama, K, enters the life of Su Yeol who is bad yet competent, and pursues justice with a crazy attitude.
The drama has been met with favorable and good reviews with Wi Ha Joon’s action scenes and emotional acting. Through an interview, the actor elaborates on his experiences of taking this role, working with the cast, and more.
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Getting into His Character K
With understanding his character, K, Wi Ha Joon admits he has learned more about him during the middle to the late half of the filming. The actor shares how he was drawn into the action genre, and wanted to try something new.
“First of all, I’ve always been hung up on action, and I wanted to try something cool and refreshing. … K was like a child, getting closer to Su-yeol, making fun of and loving Su-yeol, so I came up with a lot of ideas, and I expressed it in that sense, I felt good”
About the difficulties with settling in his character, the actor shares how hard it was to play K as he is an imaginary being. Having said that, he sought ways to showcase his character’s energy.
“It was difficult to capture the character itself. I tend to act only when I give validity to the character, but since his actions are unrealistic and not human, there was a great difficulty about what he was thinking and what validity he was acting with. The most important thing I thought of was Crazy K, so I thought about how to look more dynamic and crazy.”
Confirming the reference he used for his character, Wi Ha Joon says that he used ‘Fight Club’ and also ‘Deadpool’ as a reference. He elaborates that at some point, he has melted into his character as well.
“As he follows the director’s direction, and is faithful to the script rather than referencing the character, I think Wi Ha Joon became K. From a certain moment, it was natural and fun…”
Despite the drama’s ratings, the actor has found strength in the favorable reviews given by its viewers.
“I had high expectations. Of course, there is a regret that I wanted more people to see it. However, those who watched gave me a lot of good reviews … While watching it, the part where they said, ‘K, come out quickly, it’s fun when you come out,’ gave me strength, and of course, I thought that the viewers like K as much as I tried, so I showed you another side of me, and I learned a lot from participating in this work, and it remains a great joy.”
Powerful Action Scenes
Wi Ha Joon admits his attachment to action, and expresses his various charms through the action scenes in the drama. He notes the differences in the action scenes K does as the character lives in the action, and it’s rough, colorful, and exciting, but is also fun.
The actor recalls his preparations, and also his memorable action scene in the drama.
“There’s Jackie Chan’s action, so I paid attention to it. I was trained at the action school and prepared like that. I usually like to write action stories by myself. And there are a lot of action scenes that I remember, but among them, the action scenes with waste oil are very memorable.”
Watching the continuity video, the actor believes that the action scene will last for a long time as he had also had a hard time filming it.
“I had a hard time filming it. I stayed up all night to finish it in the morning, and it was my birthday when the sun rose. I felt like I was hit by a very big ‘birthday bread’. It came out well on the show, and I was proud that many people were impressed.”
With regards to feeling tired, Wi Ha Joon recalls his body feeling tired, but also thought that he shouldn’t have a hard time after watching Lee Dong Wook’s footage.
“Of course, my body is tired, but I always felt rewarded when I saw the results. More than difficult, I felt sorry. I wanted to do more in the second half, but some people were sad that K’s action was getting less and less in the second half, and I felt sorry for it myself.”
As Wi Ha Joon is the number one action figure in the cast, actress Han Ji Eun shares in an interview that she treats the actor as a competition in action. Wi Ha Joon smilingly reacts to the actress’ statement, and says that it would also be great if they would have the opportunity to appear in an action movie together.
“I watched the interview with Ji-eun noona, and she said that to me on set, but I don’t know why. I don’t understand why they compete with me in action. I saw her act. She’s really good. She’s passionate and uses her body very well. If there is an opportunity later, I thought that it would be good if the two would become a duo and meet in a work with exhilarating action.”
Great Energy of the Cast
Working with Lee Dong Wook, Wi Ha Joon notes how great his collaboration with the actor was. He also shares how really fun the experience was, and recalls what he said at the press conference about wanting to win the Best Couple Award.
“I think I was able to create a new image of myself, and I was able to create a new image of K that I was acting in, because he did a lot of research and gave me opinions on how to make each of these two look more fun.”
Commenting on the overall atmosphere of the set, the actor shares that it was good, and praises the bright energy of actor Cha Hak Yeon, who is one year older than him.
“Every time I see him, he is an older brother with a good energy. It’s surprising that he is one year older than me, but he was a younger brother who was brighter and more energetic than me. He was like a younger brother I wanted to take care of. That’s why I remember him a lot.”
Recalling Lee Dong Wook’s ad-lib, Wi Ha Joon remembers how much he held back his laughter.
“The day before we filmed that scene, while we were filming together, I asked, ‘Did you think of an amazing Saturday?’ and he said, ‘I will do it in that scene tomorrow.’ But he suddenly hit an ad-lib while shooting. I couldn’t hold back my laughter for a moment, so I almost threw an NG, but I remember that I barely passed. I remember that it was so funny that I almost collapsed.”
Reaction to the Romance Scenes
In the drama, K had no love lines or kiss scenes as the romantic scenes depicted were only between Ryu Su Yeol (Lee Dong Wook) and Lee Hui Gyeom (Han Ji Eun). When asked whether the actor had regrets, he denied he had any.
“No. Not at all. I didn’t participate in this work for romance in the first place. But I didn’t have any regrets about it because I could express the cuteness of this character as K.”
Despite his denial, it was revealed that he constantly asked Han Ji Eun about the filming of the kissing scene. The actor causes laughter after claiming that he was just curious.
“I was just curious… I was curious about whether the scene was filmed well, so I just asked.”
Pondering on the Recent Success of Squid Game
Acknowledging the success of his previous drama, Squid Game, Wi Ha Joon states that he controlled his mind and heart while filming Bad and Crazy.
“Squid Game really went well globally, and of course I was so happy to receive a lot of attention in a short time, but I think I’ve always been controlling my mind since such a long time ago. In a way, it comes and disappears like a current… I was filming ‘Bad and Crazy’, so I was able to control my mind, rewrote myself, and held my heart.”
Having been nominated and winning various overseas awards ceremonies, Wi Ha Joon feels honored for the opportunity.
“I can’t believe I’ve met a really big and nonsensical work, and I’m grateful for the fact that the work I’ve participated in has produced great results, and I’m so thankful and honored to participate in such a work. That’s how much I try to be more responsible and work hard in the future”
Ever since his debut in 2015, and now he has become a global star, the actor noticed a change in himself, stating that he has gained confidence, but also still has difficulties with regards to the stress before the start of his work.
“I’ve always had low self-esteem, nervousness, and worried style, but now as a person and as an actor, I think that part has changed the most, and the part that hasn’t changed is that I’ve always put down a lot of stress and couldn’t sleep well before the start of my work, and I’ve gained confidence, but those parts don’t seem to be easily fixed.”
Plans for His Acting Career
From the beginning of his acting career, the actor has aimed to be also able to perform well in comedy, but sees his cold image as a difficulty.
“Ever since I started acting, I didn’t know how to put myself down to the point where I went to the practice room every day. I always wanted to be an actor who is good at comedy, but I always thought I was cold and hard, and I always wanted to break it.”
Seeing K’s attitude, the actor had a hard time at first, but eventually thought of ways to make his character more interesting, and wanted to do more, feeling regretful as the filming ended.
“I had a goal to do K and I had to look smart, excited, childish, cute, light, and bouncy acting. It was difficult in the beginning, but I woke up at some point. I didn’t have an idea of what to do to make the scene look pleasant and funnier, but at some point it broke…”
Encountering his character in the drama, Wi Ha Joon notes how he felt comfortable after portraying K, and looks forward to his acting career.
“As an actor in the future, my expectations for acting have grown a lot, and it is a very good work that made me look forward to my acting in the future… I think I have achieved a great realization. I have anticipation and excitement about what kind of change there will be in my actions and acting.”
For this year, Wi Ha Joon wishes to spend it better, and healthier, letting go of the pressure and stress.
“The first thing I want is for this year’s work to be aired so that many people love it, and I personally hope it will be more lively. I wish I could be more energetic and, in a word, healthier. I hope I can become an actor and a person who enjoys the scene every year, putting down pressure and stress.”
Finally following his drama Bad and Crazy, actor Wi Ha Joon joins the cast of Little Women, which is set to be released this year.
Source: Sports Chosun
Photos/Videos: tvN | iQiyi
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