An interview with Yoo Geon - <BAD COUPLE> Seo Joon Soo
<불량커플>의 서준수, 유건 인터뷰
 

This man stirs up curiosity. It's not because his face is handsome. It's because of his acting shown in film and dramas.

What draws curiosity about him is his eyes.

In <Bad Couple> the alluring male Seo Joon Soo who has everything ,had uniquely big and dark eyes.
He was described as having extraordinarily large and dark eyes, however in looking at the fact that in <HELLO, GOD!> he played Haru, who was full of spirit, and the reason to be curious about the actor Yoo Geon due to his eyes seems plausible..

One night the director suddenly came and told him to prepare for departure and when they arrived he was given the script.

He was asked to read with the more experienced actors who'd been reading in the next room for 2 hours, thus he was too nervous to do a good job.

After he came home he was feeling regrettable, but a day before filming began he was notified.
For Yoo Geon to cast in a lead role in <HELLO, GOD !> was in his word a shocking occurance.
But then again he begin his debut as a celebrity in a surprising way as well.

While in his second year in highschool, Yoo Geon took a polaroid picture with his friends while eating hamburger and this marked a beginning. He made his debut as a member of dance group O.P.P.A.

"It was while I was attending school in America and I came to Korea during the summer vacation that they called a day before I left the country again..
I asked my father and he said I should give it a try so that's how I started."..

Thus, with roots in a youth club, he entered celebrity world, and he began taking acting courses in order to be an actor, but it wasn't all smooth sailing .

"When I think about the times back then I feel a sense of regret. I thought that if I worked this much then I'd make it that far, but it wasn't so, and then after O.P.P.A. was dismantled, I went back to the states, and there I rented Korean drama video tapes to watch.

I was with the same company that Jo In-Seong was, and when he changed agency he started to come out in <Piano> and <Nonstop3>.

As I watched them it occurred to me that I wanted to be an actor. So I talked to my father and to my surprise he was fully against it.

Did I say I was gonna live on this?.. (laugh)" and that is where his special journey began.


Life begins in Seoul with 15000 won
15만원으로 시작한 서울생활
After trying to persuade his father for some months and not succeeding, he came to Korea with no definite plans.

"I did say I was going to Korea, but because he was so against it, I secretly packed and hid my luggage at my friends and left him a note.

I bought my ticket to Incheon airport with money saved from part-time job, but when I arrived in Incheon I only had about 150 dollars (150k won) in my pocket.

Due to my luggage I rode on the call van to Seoul which costed me 70 usd (70k won) so I only had 80 dollars left after that. (laugh).
Back then I was 22 years old. In Korea, young men aged 22 cannot escape the calling of military service."

"I came to do something, but if I just went to the army then I feel cheated so I felt I needed to go as far as I could"
Thus he begain auditioning and studying acting, while enrolling in Seoul Arts college.
"I didn't contact my father all this while.. and during summer vacations I worked as much as 6 different part-time jobs.
From dusk I would deliver newspaper, then pack bentos at the food eateries, serve food as well, and bus tables and dishes at restaurants."

So 2 and half years passed by and he had to make a decision about service in the army again.

"I was about to graduate and at this rate I'd go to the military without any accomplishment, so I took a break from school and saved money to take picture for my profile,
and there was an agency who said they would cast me so I was thankful and joined them but they told me I had to take new photos and do new profiles and I had to bring this and that amount of money, so I was conned."

Without money and after getting conned, he finally earned his chance to debut through the internet.
"Then I thought I tried so if I go to army like this then I don't feel cheated. (laughter)."

There's the song called 'I can do it alone' but in reality it is not easy to do anything alone.

"Back then, if my father wasn't so stern I don't think I could've come this far. If he'd given me money for housing and school, and spending, then I wouldn't have this determination.

I left home to be an actor, so I had to focus on it, and earn money to achieve that dream, to pay for transportation fees, and to make a plan for future...so to my father I'm very grateful"

Thus, he must feel estranged toward Seo Jun-Su character who has everything there is to have.
"But to be honest that character only exists in dramas. It's hard to find someone like him in reality. Good family background,
good education, modeling as a hobby, good manners and good personality, and with everything there's to have. Thus at first it was hard to empathize with him.
But I am quite different from way back then. Life is more comfortable and I have more help now.
It's like back then I lived on 5 dollars (5k won) a day but now I can live on 50 dollars (50k won).
But that's not all good. Lately I think I need to live more cautiously."
That's why Yoo Geon speaks more "forwardly" than other 25 year olds.

"Since I was young things were complicated. Going between Korea and America, my teenage years just flew away unbeknown to me,
and I lived alone a lot since I was a child, so when I look at the worries my friends have I wonder arrogantly if I ever had such worries (laughter)."
"till not long ago, I had to made decisions about everything myself, but now it's not the case. Now I have many people I can ask,
and people to lean on, and to share hopes with. But whenever I do, I fear that I've become weak. I need someone to whip me (laughter).

If the agency* president after drinking a little said to me, 'Geon, straighten up your act!' then I'll get nervous again and such. (laughter)"

In these eyes of the 25 year old who says living comfortably is weakening, there is certain sure determination.
What will this actor show us in the future with this confident feeling. Of course, this isn't just due to his dark, deep, and lucid eyes...
It is because his determination as an actor who wants to accomplish something through his experience, his anguish and training.

CREDITS: Many heartfelt thanks to our dear friend dramaok for the of the interpretations of this Interview |  puppyiz  

Source : www.magazinet.co.kr