[Herald Interview] Top star So Ji-sub tired of playing good guys

Top Korean actor So Ji-sub said he was tired of playing good guys in TV dramas and movies when he got the script for “Confession,” directed by Yoon Jong-seok.

“It has been a while since I started playing lead roles. All the protagonists have something in common. They are mostly nice guys. But this character was not, and that was appealing to me,” So said during an interview with a group of local reporters on Wednesday.

“At the time I really wanted to play a new role that does not overlap with my previous ones. I am always up for challenges and there are so many different roles that I hope to play," he added.

The project was also new to him as he had never performed in a crime-thriller film.

“Confession” is a remake of the 2017 Spanish film "The Invisible Guest," directed by Oriol Paulo. The Korean film tells the story of tech CEO Yoo, who is a suspect in the murder of Kim Se-hee (Nana).

To prove his innocence, Yoo meets up with Yang Sin-ae (Kim Yun-jin), a talented lawyer, at a remote hut. There, the lawyer insists that she will only represent him if he trusts her and tells her everything that happened in the hotel room where Se-hee died. Yang also adds that only then can she construct a credible alibi for him to win the case in court.

So said he especially liked his character Yoo Min-ho because he was not a villain who came out of nowhere.

 

“From the beginning, he is having an affair, so he is not a good person. But I did not think of him as a person who could kill someone. He made some wrong choices -- one after another. In the end, they pile up and he becomes a villain,” he said.

Since the movie tells its story mainly through conversations between the CEO and lawyer in the hut, the actor said they had to practice the script thoroughly in a way that he had never done before in order to create an intensity between two characters talking in a limited space.

“We took a lot of time reading through the script. I first met with Yoon one-on-one and read the script together. During this process, we added some and scrapped some lines. Kim Yun-jin also did the same thing. Then we all got together and went over the script together several times,” So said.

Asked whether he felt any added pressure being in a remake film, So said he did not.

“I watched the original movie after reading the script. To be honest, I did not have pressure doing a remake project because I have experience doing ‘Be With You,’ which is a remake of a much more famous film,” the actor said. “Also this movie has the same framework as the original film, but there were important changes made to it.”

“Be With You” is a 2018 Korean romance film starring So and Son Ye-jin. The film is a remake of the 2004 Japanese film of the same title.

During the interview, So took time to talk about what he has learned as an actor in his 28-year career.

“What I have learned is that I cannot work alone. I need to get some help from the staff and co-stars and also vice versa. So helping others is really important,” he said. “As long as I can play lead roles, I want to support those directors and staff as much as I can and use my star power to create more opportunities for them.”

The actor also talked about how he deals with hardships as an actor.

“Whenever I feel like I am in a slump, I watch ‘I'm Sorry, I Love You’ again. I filmed that drama with all my passion for acting. So watching it brings me energy,” he said. “And that drama has a special place in my heart because it is with that drama that I made myself known as 'actor So Ji-sub.'”

“I'm Sorry, I Love You” is a 2004 KBS drama series starring So Ji-sub and Im Soo-jung.

“Confession” hits local theaters on Wednesday.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)