K-pop Idols Eye Acting Careers
The number of ‘idol star’ musicians moving into acting has been growing recently. LEE Joon of popular Korean Wave boy group ‘MBLAQ’ starred in Rough Play, a film written and produced by KIM Ki-duk, as Oh-young. Leader of pop group ‘Big Bang’, CHOI Seung-hyun (a.k.a. T.O.P.), starred in LEE John H’s 71-Into the Fire (2010) three years ago and returned in as an actor with his first lead role in this year’s Commitment. Other cases include FT Island’s LEE Hong-ki in Rockin’ on Heaven’s Door, 2PM’s LEE Jun-ho and OK Taec-yeon, in Cold Eyes and Marriage Blue, respectively, while Girls’ Generation’s GWON Yu-ri made her feature debut with No Breathing, starring LEE Jong-suk and SEO In-guk. The list of boundary-crossing idol stars goes on with a number of films aiming for release next year that have cast young stars recognized as ‘idols’ by the public in both leading and supporting roles.
In the past, idol star film appearances were divided into two different trends: casting idol stars in leading roles or fairly significant supporting roles in high concept commercial films. The former films were usually targeted towards the Asian Korean Wave market including Japan, China and Taiwan, while the latter were based on a risk-reducing consideration by casting a well-exposed idol star instead of an unknown upcoming actor.
However, the Korean film community’s perception towards idol star casting has changed quite noticeably. Unlike the previous poorly developed Korean Wave films that relied on the popularity of the Korean Wave and K-pop, nowadays there are more commercial films considering idol stars as serious candidates for roles. One reason may be that compared to the past, there has been an improvement in the acting skills of these idol stars who receive singing, dancing and acting training to become ‘total entertainers.’ Another factor would be that as time has gone by, the public has become more forgiving towards idol stars balancing a career between music and acting. In addition, the lack of 20-something actors who have enough star power to be cast in commercial films has opened up more options for idol stars to fill in the gap.
From an industrial point-of-view, with the difficulty of sustaining a career in music within a pop music market inundated with idol group stars, and a slightly slacking K-pop popularity, idol stars are actively seeking opportunities to work in film and TV dramas. As a result, rather than the trend of taking an acting opportunity as an occasional ‘excursion’ like in the past, there has been an increase in shifting the focus to acting from an original career in music. Even film producers have become fairly eager to cast idols stars as a means to secure the box office success of their films. On the other hand, skeptics claim that such idol stars are stealing upcoming professional actors’ places, but most agree that there isn’t much difference between the potential of an upcoming professional actor and idol star to become a serious actor whether it’s a leading or supporting role.
Among the idol stars in 2013, LEE Joon and CHOI Seung-hyun are at the forefront of the group. LEE Joon’s track record includes starring as the teenage Raizo whose adult version was played by Rain (JUNG Ji-hoon) in the Wachowski Siblings-produced and James McTeigue-directed Hollywood action film Ninja Assassin (2009). He subsequently appeared in Jungle Fish 2 and the TV drama series Iris 2, but finally received critical acclaim as the actor-wannabe Oh-young who hits the top as a bit part actor-turned-star, but then miserably falls from grace in Rough Play. His skilled performance in erotic and action scenes as well as his dialogue and emotional delivery, not to movement, has earned him considerable praise. His next film will be webtoon author HWANG Mi-na’s directorial debut film Botox (working title). Based on the original webtoon of the same title created by HWANG Mi-na, Botox is a story of the romance between the 42 year-old Young-sook and 21 year-old Gun. LEE Joon is playing Gun, and PARK Jin-hee of Shadows in the Palace and Lost & Found will play Young-sook.
CHOI Seung-hyun is challenging the success of KIM Soo-hyun, who played a ‘pretty boy spy’ in the mega-hit Secretly, Greatly earlier this year, with Commitment. Storming the film awards scene by grabbing almost every upcoming star award with his performance as student soldier OH Jang-bum in 71-Into the Fire, CHOI Seung-hyung plays the North Korean spy RHEE Myung-hoon who jumps into a whirlwind of adversity to protect the younger sister he left back in North Korea and the new friend he meets in the South. Despite a divided response to the film, CHOI Seung-hyun’s performance is largely praised for persuasively shifting between the roles of naïve and clumsy high schooler and merciless killing machine. He has also been cast in the lead role of HAHM Dae-gi in Tazza 2, the sequel to filmmaker CHOI Dong-hoon’s Tazza: The High Rollers (2006) which attracted 6.83 million in admissions in 2006. The film will be directed by KANG Hyoung-chul of Scandal Makers (2008) and Sunny (2011).
Among the films in production at the moment, the casting of PARK Yoo-chun, currently a member of JYJ and former member of TVXQ in Sea Fog, on which Snowpiercer’s BONG Joon-ho is credited as a producer, is noteworthy. Based on the play of the same title, this film is the directorial debut project SHIM Sung-bo, the co-screenplay writer of Memories of Murder (2003). It is a thriller dealing with six sailors who inadvertently become drawn into peril when they board stowaways on their fishing boat in the middle of the sea. Sea Fog will be the theatrical debut film of PARK Yoo-chun who received popular acclaim for his performances in TV dramas including Sungkyunkwan Scandal and Missing You. The potential of his film chemistry with KIM Yun-seok of The Thieves and Tazza: The High Rollers as well as HAN Ye-ri of The Spy: Undercover Operation and Commitment is already raising attention from the public.
After a successful start as an actor with Cold Eyes, LEE Joon-ho of 2PM returns with a supporting role in Memories of the Sword starring LEE Byung-hun of Masquerade and JEON Do-yeon who is returning to the screen two years after starring in Countdown. Memories of the Sword, directed by PARK Heung-sik of Bravo, My Life (2005) and My Mother, The Mermaid (2004), is a heroic action film dealing with the swordsmen who led the people’s revolt during the military era of Koryo Dynasty. The Pirates of the Caribbean-esque adventure film Pirates (working title) starring SON Ye-jin and KIM Nam-gil has also cast f(x)’s Sulli in a significant supporting role.
As is evident, idol star casting seems to be the latest trend in Korean films. Whether they will be just brief ‘one hit wonders’ whose images are exploited for marketing purposes or in fact become full-fledged professional actors with an eye for good projects and passion for acting, remains to be seen.
By TAE Sang-joon