For Yoo Ah-in, trust was key in playing character with no lines

Actor Yoo Ah-in said he put no extra effort into playing a character with no lines in the upcoming crime drama “Voice of Silence.”

“There was no extra preparation for the character. I just tried to form a stronger trust in director Hong Eui-jung and actor Yoo Jae-myung,” Yoo Ah-in said Monday during an online press conference.

Tae-in, Yoo Ah-in’s character in the movie, has the unusual job of disposing of corpses and cleaning up crime scenes for an organized crime syndicate, along with Chang-bok, played by Yoo Jae-myung. For Chang-bok, who sells eggs for a living, this is a side job.

The story develops further as the two contrasting characters become responsible for taking care of a girl when her kidnapper, a member of a criminal organization, suddenly dies.

“Before working with Yoo Ah-in, I considered him more as an iconic celebrity rather than an actor. Through this movie, I found out that he analyzes the character well and is not afraid to freely express himself. Since I have a background in the theater, I tend to consider acting as something holy, so it was interesting to find out how Yoo Ah-in freely enjoys it,” Yoo Jae-myung said.

Returning Yoo Jae-myung’s praise, Yoo Ah-in said he wants to do another movie together.

“Next time, we should exchange lines,” Yoo Ah-in joked.

During the conference, the director lauded Yoo Jae-myung, who played the character who did most of the talking, for creating the down-to-earth Chang-bok by changing some of the lines in the original script.

“In the original script, Chang-bok said, ‘The price is 8,000 won.’ But Yoo Jae-myung changed it into ‘The price is 80 million won.’ Our staff all loved the change,” Hong said. Hong added that this little change made the character more believable, as it is a silly joke that older salespeople often make to entertain customers.

“I am the kind of actor who usually follows what is written in the script, but this time I winged it a bit,” Yoo Jae-myung said.

Yoo Jae-myung also added that he learned a lot from working with child actor Moon Seung-ah, who played the kidnapped girl.

“When I was acting in the theater, I was told that I overdo my facial expressions and that it is also important to act naturally and make a resting face called a ‘dead mask.’ I saw the child actor making that face without much effort,” he said. “I think it is something that only child actors can at their age and was impressed.”

Since “Voice of Silence” is Hong’s debut feature, she shared some of her regrets while filming it.

“I gave feedback to the child actor that she did great. And Yoo Jae-myung saw this and joked about how he envies her for getting great feedback. That’s when I realized that I did not give any positive feedback to our veteran actors,” Hong said. “At the time, I thought that it wasn’t my place to do that. That was one of the many mistakes I made while filming this movie.”

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