Actor Seol Kyeong-gu [Beck Una/10Asia]
Beck Una (Beck): And that is when you decided to take the civil service examination.
Seol Kyeong-gu (Seol): Haha. Let me explain that to you. I was dying to leave the Hanyang Repertory. I'd already graduated but that place was an extension of school while I wanted to meet a larger variety of people. I didn't think they'd let me go for no reason so I lied that I'm going to take the civil service exam. (laugh) But what's so spontaneous about me is that although I had left because I didn't like it, I didn't have anything to do right away. And I needed money but I didn't want to ask my parents for it so I ended up asking a senior of mine to give me a part-time job putting up posters. The interesting thing is that I ended up staying in the industry. Of course, if I had really taken off, I might have ended up becoming human trash. (laugh) Anyway, I had been at the job for about a month and a half? I was suddenly asked if I would want to take part in the musical "Line 1". Mr. Kim Min-ki had seen me about, putting up the posters and asked me if I would want to take part thinking that I'm hardworking. That had been my audition for it. Me and actors from all walks of life with all sorts of experience rehearsed for three months and wow, it was so much fun. That was the start of "Line 1". It also did very well. Before I took on film "Girls' Night Out", I was making two million won per month and drove a Sephia. (laugh) But after "Line 1", I had no work at all. That's when scenarist Lee Seon-mi, who used to do plays, recommended me to writer Jeong Seong-joo. And that is how I got to become part of the cast for morning TV series "Sisters". I think I'm a very person when it comes to human relationships.
Beck: Did you not think of taking on dramas after "Sisters"?
Seol: Why wouldn't I have? I was also asked to quite a lot. Not official auditions but one-on-one. But you know how you get glanced at from head to toe? I really hated the look they gave me when they do that. So after "Girls' Night Out" and then "Rainbow Trout", a man called Lee Chang-dong called me.
Beck: After he watched "Girls' Night Out"?...More
Celebrities are joining the rest of the nation in mourning the late Former President Roh Moo-hyun. Rock band YB, actors
Moon Seong-geun and
Myeong Kye-nam, and singer Jeon In-kwon have gone down to Roh's hometown of Bongha in southern Korea to pay their last respects to the deceased leader.
Meanwhile, younger celebrities are using their online homepages as venues to pay tribute to the former president. Actor
Lee Joon-ki wrote words of condolences on his mini homepage and comedian Kim Je-dong wrote that he admired the late president...
MoreYoon Jong-bin
The Unforgiven in Un Certain Regard
First-time feature director
Yoon Jong-bin makes his international debut in the Un Certain Regard at this year's Cannes. His film is about two boyhood friends who meet during their mandatory military service and later experience the tragic consequences of habitual violence in the army. With its steady and non-self-indulgent approach to drama, the film made its world premiere at the Pusan International Film Festival to accolades from critics and audiences alike, garnering invitations from the world's most prestigious festivals.
The Unforgiven was originally 27 year-old
Yoon Jong-bin's graduation film from the Film Studies Department at Chung-Ang University, based on his experiences while serving in the army himself. "Every Korean man that does military service has experiences like this", says Yoon, referringto the bullying and violence. "It's not a special story. If you are a man and live in Korean society, you can't live apart from military service, even after you are discharged. No one really talks about what happens much, so I decided to make it into a film". Although not a special story, it is told with a unique sort of irony and a subtle feel for absurd situations.
Yoon Jong-bin shot the film over a month during a summer vacation and another during winter vacation on a shoestring budget which included prize money from Korea's Mis-en-scene's Genres Film Festival, a Pre-production Support Fund from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), and personal funds that he put together "just like any other film student".
He met lead actor
Ha Jeong-woo - who plays the superior that tries to protect his friend in the army - after seeing him in a play.
Seo Jang-won, who plays the problematic subordinate, was introduced to him through an acquaintance. Yoon himself plays the newcomer that is trained by SEO in the film. The three belatedly found out they were all from the same university, one known for its drama and film departments.
With so little time and money for production, Yoon took advantage of the time before and in between shoots to do a great deal of pre-production work. Because the actors had their own busy schedules and the film's locations weresometimes hard to access one of them was a real army base with strict rules - Yoon went to the sites during pre-production and shot scenes from the script with his crew on video. "I would take the videos back to the actors and talk with them about different ways to do things", says Yoon. Once they got on set, they would change things andcould get more creative, but they were also prepared in advance - something Yoon found helps the creative process and plans to continue doing in the future.
When The Unforgiven was shown at his department's graduation screenings, a professor, ...
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What if you have a dark secret you don't want disclosed and somebody else wants to exploit your vulnerability? "
The Customer is Always Right" (Sonnimeun Wang-ida) is an intriguing fable about such a situation where inevitably, main characters collide with each other.
The story begins in an extremely clean, well-lit barbershop. Ahn Chang-jin (
Seong Ji-roo) is the proud owner and self-taught professional. He does not spare money to purchase the best scissors and hair-cutting equipment; he cleans the white-colored shop every day as if no dust is allowed to step into the sacred place; he plays only classical music for his respectable, high-brow customers.
The reality, however, is that Ahn's barbershop is one of many obscure places in the equally plain back streets of Seoul. It's nowhere near the upscale district, but Ahn's peculiar obsession with the best equipment, high-brow taste, and the extreme cleanliness is entertaining.
Furthermore, he has a beautiful wife named Jeon Yeon-ok (
Seong Hyeon-ah) wh...
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