Song Seung Heon Slips into Singapore for 'Dr. Jin'

Next month, Song Seung Heon‘s first period drama Dr. Jin will be telecast on one of Singapore’s free-to-air TV channels. To celebrate this occasion, Song Seung Heon flew in to Singapore to speak at a press conference held on March 1, as well as a public meet-the-fans session the following day at a shopping mall. 

The press conference was held at a new upscale restaurant called ME@OUE, resplendent with views of the beautiful Marina Bay. Clad in a simple white t-shirt, black jeans, and a casual dark gray jacket, Song Seung Heon looked dashing.

Despite being an actor for almost 20 years, “Dr. Jin” marks the first time he acted as a doctor, and also his first period drama, so naturally, questions about how he prepared himself and what difficulties he encountered popped up.

“I naturally felt some pressure, but fortunately, as I am supposed to be a modern day doctor who traveled back 150 years to the Joseon Dynasty, I actually did not have to worry much about period speech and behavior.” 

The challenge for Song Seung Heon was that he had to memorize many medical terms, and there were many surgical scenes. The scenes were quite realistic, and at times so gory and bloody that it took him a while to get used to it. With the guide of real doctors while filming, he soon got so familiar with welding the scalpel and wound stitching that he and the crew often joked that he is probably now good enough to be a doctor. 

When asked about the most memorable experience of filming the drama, he replied, “I think it was really interesting because the drama touches on history of the Joseon era, and I often imagine how it would be like if I really have the chance to go back to the past to meet these historical figures. Thus, every day was a refreshing experience for me during the filming.”

Talking about his co-actors in the drama, Song Seung Heon said that he learned a lot from veteran actor Lee Bum Soo, whom he has collaborated with in a movie more than ten years ago.

“Lee Bum Soo is able to grasp the gist of the character and to portray it well. As for Park Min Young, there were worries initially about whether such a young girl would be able to portray her role well, but she worked hard and in fact did rather well. Kim Jae Joong, being a popular K-Pop idol, also faced doubts from people about his acting, but he worked extremely hard, in fact, harder than anyone else.”

After he sang one of the songs from the drama’s OST, many people who were impressed with his singing asked if he would consider coming out with an album as a singer. The humble Song Seung Heon, who had released a full album before back in 2004, replied, “Actually, I can’t sing very well. I think it really has to do with all the new high-tech audio equipment that managed to make me sound good. So, no, I don’t think I would come up with another full album or single. However, I think it is meaningful to be able take part in OSTs for my dramas and movies, and I would not reject it if the opportunity arises in future.”

As with many other actors, there are still many different types of roles he wishes to portray, especially roles that are totally opposite from all his past kind and warm-hearted roles, such as a killer or psychopath. For his upcoming drama, “When A Man Loves,” he gets to play a gangster who falls in love for the first time, acting opposite Shin Se Kyung.

But first, let’s first catch him in “Dr. Jin” on Channel U on weekdays at 10 PM, beginning April 1.

Special thanks to Channel U for extending the media invitation to Soompi.

This article is contributed by aprilliax.

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