Kim Myeong-min Struggles after Losing 20 kg

"I needed to focus more on portraying feelings in the latter part of the movie, but I was unable to concentrate on acting because I was exhausted".

Actor Kim Myeong-min, who plays a patient suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease in the movie "Closer to Heaven", has lost 20 kg for his role. At the movie production briefing on August 24, Kim said it was understood that he had to starve in order to play this role.

"People who have Lou Gehrig's disease have their senses and consciousness intact. Only their muscles keep dwindling. But since I'm not a patient, both my senses and consciousness became paralyzed when I lost weight", said Kim.

"Closer to Heaven" is about Jong-woo (Kim Myeong-min), who has Lou Gehrig's disease, and his devoted wife, Ji-soo (Ha Ji-won). It was directed by Park Jin-pyo, whose previous movie "You are my Sunshine", drew 3 million viewers.

A clip from the movie that was screened at the briefing showed Kim's skinny body, with his ribs and backbone protruding, and his emaciated face. Kim joking said, "In the beginning, the director and Ha Ji-won supported me by starving and losing weight along with me. But later they would go out to have snacks and didn't share them with me. It was very sad".

He added, "The director prepared candy for me because I could collapse from hypoglycemia and he did starve a lot because of me. The filming process was very difficult but I never once resented the director and I felt alive on the filming set".

Director Park said Ha Ji-won had to nurse Kim because he was having a hard time losing so much weight, and that he went out with her to have some snacks because the actress felt depressed. "I didn't want to eat at all, but I kept her company to make her eat", said Park.

Ha, who plays a funeral director, said she found the task of dressing the deceased more difficult than she thought and that she realized as she practiced that only people with skillful hands could do the job. She said, "It was hard for me to watch Mr. Kim lose weight and feel sick. I was able to take care of him because he was completely engrossed in his role".

She added that she had been waiting for the love of her life all this time, but after filming this movie she had become even more eager to meet her "Mr. Right". "Someday the person who I'm destined to fall in love with will show up", said Ha, smiling.