NOVEL NEXT Episode 090
Episode 090
For a month,
I tried various approaches.
To avoid having my presence erased by Ji Jung-hyun,
The only way was to enhance my own presence.
At first, I practiced once as usual and then once more in a different way.
It was a method of viewing the same scene from a third-person perspective.
I certainly tended to make analyses that were close to the correct answer.
I preferred to research what the director and writer had imagined and implement it exactly.
I thought that was the only way to do it.
I received praise when I did it that way.
But watching Ji Jung-hyun, I realized it didn’t have to be that way.
In fact, it could hinder the creation of a better work by limiting the imagination of the director and writer.
Like the similar experience I had during the filming of episode 16 of
Director Kim Pil-sung was more open to this aspect than I had known.
The fact that he accepted Ji Jung-hyun’s acting even when it differed from what he had in mind was proof of this.
However, Director Kim Pil-sung didn’t accept just any idea.
“Actor Lee Si-joon!”
“Yes!”
“That one wasn’t so good. Could you do it like before?”
“Ah… Yes! I’m sorry!”
“Then let’s go again.”
In conclusion, the strategy of preparing two versions of acting was a failure.
Director Kim Pil-sung almost always preferred the original acting.
As a result, we had to repeat the same shoot two or three times because of me on set.
Eventually, I had to abandon this strategy after a few days.
Ji Jung-hyun, who had been watching this, approached me.
“Don’t tell me… You haven’t given up, have you?”
He seemed to clearly know what I wanted.
But Ji Jung-hyun just said this and didn’t give any more hints.
Even if I swallowed my pride and asked for the method, he would just shrug his shoulders.
“You’re already doing well, what more do you want? Just keep doing what you’re doing.”
Certainly, Ji Jung-hyun had no reason to pass on his secret method.
After all, Ji Jung-hyun wasn’t Seo Myung-hee.
Moreover, judging by Ji Jung-hyun’s attitude, he seemed to think that even if he told me the method, I wouldn’t be able to do it like him.
Indeed, even Ji Jung-hyun didn’t showcase this kind of acting during
He was originally good, but back then it felt like he was giving the best performance within the scope of my analysis.
‘But why is he able to show advanced acting in
I focused on this aspect and researched new methods.
Then suddenly, I thought that maybe he had analyzed the character based on a model.
It was a hypothesis with enough possibility.
After all, Yoon Woo-sung and Kim Sung-yeon were characters with real-life models.
So I began to seriously study Yun Bong-gil and Kim Sang-ok.
I didn’t just broadly examine historical events, but focused on researching their lives in detail and studying their character changes.
When I got stuck in this process, I recruited a professor from a Seoul university to seek advice.
I felt a bit of regret that I should have prepared like this before entering the filming.
But it wasn’t too late.
Fortunately, when I explained the situation, Festa Entertainment spared no support.
Kim Bo-mi shook her head and said,
“No one can stop your passion for acting.”
“I’m sorry for the trouble.”
“Ah, that’s not what I meant. I said it because I think it’s amazing.”
“Is that so? Thank you for the compliment.”
“Yes. By the way, do you happen to have any free days?”
“You should know my schedule better than I do, Team Leader Kim… Why suddenly? Is something going on?”
“Ah, the CEO said he’d like to have dinner together.”
“The CEO?”
Come to think of it, I rarely had the chance to talk with the CEO of Festa Entertainment.
Apart from a brief chat when I first signed the contract, I had only exchanged greetings in passing.
And now dinner?
It was a bit sudden, but there was no reason to avoid it.
However, the most important thing right now was to fully embody the role of Kim Sung-yeon.
“Anytime is fine with me. As long as this filming wraps up well.”
“I thought you’d say that. Then I’ll schedule it for after the filming.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
So, while I was deeply contemplating the role of Kim Sung-yeon, researching real-life figures,
A few articles with photos were posted online.
[Actor Lee Si-joon spotted at Korea University! Studying history for ‘Escape’?]
[Lee Si-joon visits Korea University campus, his handsomeness can’t be hidden even with a hat on (photo)]
[Lee Si-joon studying history for ‘Escape’ role… Praise for his passion!]
My visit to Korea University had been turned into news articles.
I had taken a photo at the request of an assistant I met while leaving the professor’s office, and it seemed a student had uploaded the photo to the internet.
The content of the articles was detailed and not wrong, but somehow it was embarrassing.
It was even more so because the results weren’t matching the effort I was putting in.
But it seemed it wasn’t entirely without effect.
“Oh! Actor! Your acting just now was good! It’s a direction I hadn’t imagined.”
This was the first time Director Kim Pil-sung had praised me like this.
But there was no more praise after that.
The result was the same even after I finished all my studies on Yun Bong-gil and Kim Sang-ok.
Even after that, I tried various methods as they came to mind, but couldn’t find the answer even after a month had passed.
Then one day,
Finally, something clicked in my head.
* * *
‘Could Senior Ji Jung-hyun be looking at this film as if he’s directly producing it?’
This thought occurred to me on my way home after participating in a dinner gathering led by Director Kim Pil-sung.
Until now, I had been unable to participate in these gatherings, using the excuse of physical fatigue.
Indeed, attending every dinner gathering was too much for me.
Of course, it would be more accurate to say I didn’t have time because I was researching the role of Kim Sung-yeon, rather than being tired.
Despite having dinner gatherings almost every day, everyone seemed to have a lot to say, and the gatherings were lively.
Director Kim Pil-sung was discussing the day’s shooting with the assistant director.
Ji Jung-hyun was drinking while listening to the staff’s complaints.
Occasionally, he would offer words of comfort.
He would also say things like telling them to come up with solutions and relay them to the person in charge.
Ji Jung-hyun’s position in this film was certainly unique.
He wasn’t just the lead actor, but also an investor in
A planner directly involved in production.
The hint was hidden here.
Anyone who directly creates something would inevitably view it from a different perspective.
An actor was also someone who directly participates in the production of a work.
But as explained earlier, actors were closer to people who try to match the thoughts of the director and writer.
After all, they wouldn’t have considered and worried about more things than the director and writer who directly planned this work.
For this reason, actors naturally had to ask: What did the director and writer intend?
But if you were a producer who directly planned the work yourself, it was a different story.
You didn’t need to simply find the correct answer by asking who might be thinking what and how.
You could fundamentally ask what could help complete it closer to the correct answer.
For example, an actor was someone who found the correct answer according to intentions in a multiple-choice question like “Choose only one correct answer from the following.”
But a producer was someone who had the fundamental doubt of whether the answer to this question was really just one.
This was the decisive reason why I couldn’t analyze and act like Ji Jung-hyun until now.
Reaching this realization, I could understand why I hadn’t been able to solve this problem until now.
At the same time, I could understand why viewing from a third-person perspective wasn’t effective.
I could understand why researching the lives of Yun Bong-gil and Kim Sang-ok was partially effective.
The former was ineffective because it couldn’t reflect the producer’s perspective.
The latter was effective because it could partially reflect the producer’s perspective.
Researching the lives of real people was a task that needed to be resolved before production.
On the other hand, I understood why Ji Jung-hyun didn’t teach me the method even though he knew it.
Studying a work from a producer’s perspective was that difficult.
Even more so if you weren’t involved in the production.
An actor, and even a director, puts the audience and the work first, beyond themselves.
They constantly ask fundamental questions about whether this work is going in the right direction.
Viewing a work from a producer’s perspective meant that misinterpreting even one small thing could lead you endlessly down a path of misunderstanding.
Moreover, this method could potentially cause friction with the director and writer if not careful.
No matter how good-natured someone is, they couldn’t like people who have a lot to say about their work.
Especially someone like a film director who writes the script and directs themselves would inevitably be even more so.
While it might not be a problem with Director Kim Pil-sung, who wasn’t an authoritarian figure.
If I showed this behavior when working with other film directors in the future, it could cause problems.
Perhaps Ji Jung-hyun was concerned about these aspects and didn’t teach me the method.
‘Besides, my situation is different from Senior Ji Jung-hyun’s. After all, he’s really an investor in this work.’
So I couldn’t be certain how Director Kim Pil-sung would react if I acted like Ji Jung-hyun.
‘Will it really be okay?’
After thinking for a moment, I nodded and came to a conclusion.
I thought it was worth trying because it was Director Kim Pil-sung.
Director Kim Pil-sung was a person with a stronger desire to make a better work than to maintain authority.
The reason he accepted Ji Jung-hyun’s acting style wasn’t simply because he was an investor in
If he really didn’t like it, when Ji Jung-hyun asked “Was that not good?” at the dinner after the first shoot,
He would have certainly answered that it was.
But Director Kim Pil-sung didn’t say that, and instead supported Ji Jung-hyun’s method.
If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have felt this urgency.
Because Ji Jung-hyun wouldn’t have been able to show acting that far exceeded my expectations.
So I organized my thoughts and as soon as I got home, I opened my notebook.
I wrote “If I were producing
My analysis continued until dawn, and I was finally able to finish analyzing the portion to be filmed this afternoon.
And I immediately put on the method mask and thought,
‘If I practice according to my analysis today, what kind of evaluation will I receive this afternoon?’
I was already so curious about it.
As morning approached, my heartbeat gradually quickened.