Actor Namgoong Min does all the bad things

Actor Namgoong Min, who played the villain Nam Kyu-min in the recently concluded drama "Remember - War of the Son," has an unusual achievement: committing all the bad deeds possibly shown on TV.

"I should probably stop playing the villain," he said while laughing in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday. "Maybe I could in a different genre. I just think I've done all the horrible things you can on TV without violating the broadcasting guidelines."

In the SBS series, the chairman's son with anger management issues murders a woman at a vacation house. Due to a stroke of bad luck combined with poor memory, the owner of the vacation house is charged with the murder and put on death row. Seo Jin-woo, the son of the wrongfully accused, becomes a lawyer to clear his father's name.

"People have been telling me I look scary even when I smile," Namgoong said. "They'll probably forget after a few months, though.

If the viewers can't forget Nam Kyu-man, I'll make them forget by playing a different character. I'm sure it's possible."

Nam is strikingly reminiscent of the villain played by star actor Yoo Ah-in in the recent movie hit "Veteran." Like Nam, Cho Tae-oh, as the villain is called in the Ryoo Seung-wan feature, is tyrannical and conducive to anger. But that's where their similarities end, Namgoong says.

"Cho Tae-oh and Nam Kyu-man are roughly similar but are played by different actors, and the details of the setting are different,"

he said. "That's what I've been telling people, and I'm glad that has been the case."

Most of the tantrums on the SBS series have been improvised, Namgoong adds. If the screenplay reads, "turn table upside down,"

that would be the minimum he'd do for a scene. When Seo appears as Nam gets on a helicopter, Namgoong ad-libs: "Crap, that beggar is here, again."

"It wasn't easy to show different kinds of rage each time," Namgoong confessed. "At one point, I had trouble recreating an improvised scene where I kick some books off a table. So I collaborated with Si-eon (Ahn Soo-beom) to create a slightly different scene. It was all thanks to our producer who let us do what we want and trusted us."

Even though Nam had originally been "scheduled" to die in the 16th or 17th episode of the 20-part series, he survives until the last episodes. Namgoong acknowledged that must have been frustrating for the viewers.

"The delay was inevitable since if Nam exits, the show would lose its core momentum," he said. "I tried to add some humor toward the end so as not to test the viewers' patience."

Namgoong is currently directing and writing the screenplay for his upcoming thriller film "Light My Fire." (Yonhap)