As with any other society in South Korea, the film community here has long espoused a culture of seniority -- the more experienced and successful you are, the greater respect you command from neophytes.
But actor Jung Woo-sung says he's not one to subscribe to that kind of ideology.
The 43-year-old is the leading man in the upcoming arthouse film "Remember You." The mystery romance feature is directed by a rookie, Lee Yoon-jung. Jung briefly worked with her on a separate movie directed by someone else in 2008, with Lee being the script writer then.
Seven years later, Lee asked Jung to be in her movie, a proposal Jung says was startling not because she dared to ask him but because she wasn't sure if she could make such a proposal.
"I told her it's a director's prerogative to ask actors to be in a movie," he told Yonhap News Agency in an interview on Monday.
"I'd lose opportunities, too, if I sever contact with the newer generations. As someone who's been in this industry longer, I want to break that barrier."
In "Remember You," Jung plays a man who loses his memory after a car accident. He wakes up to a woman crying at his bedside and falls in love with her. The woman tries to prevent him from remembering his past for reasons that slowly unravel as the movie progresses.
Generosity has been a part of Jung's life for some time now.
Last year, the South Korean actor visited South Sudan to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis there as an honorary advocate for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He also donated US$46,000 to victims of the earthquake in Nepal, which killed more than 8,000 people last year.
"At some point, I wanted to 'cooperate' with people rather than doing things on my own," he said. "I wish I'd started that sooner."
"Strangely enough, Jung was in another amnesia-related independent movie in 2004. In "A Moment to Remember," Jung played a man who looks after his Alzheimer's-stricken partner. But the actor said "Remember You" is "completely different" in its message and its philosophy on love.
"Remember You" also marks his debut as a producer, albeit a "reckless" one.
"Romantic movies haven't been doing well lately, so I hadn't thought of making one myself," he said. "But only the experienced would think that way. Producers who challenge themselves to create a movie that's meaningful to them drive the diversity in films." (Yonhap)
