T.O.P Reflects Back on His Experience as Actor Choi Seung Hyun in Interview

It was a different T.O.P than the one we were all used to. BIGBANG’s T.O.P, who uses his real name Choi Seung Hyun as an actor, portrayed an entirely different character from the ones he had previously taken on. Instead of the dark, lonely, and sad characters from before, he could be seen portraying a guy who can send out huge hearts to a beautiful woman he sees, or grin nonchalantly as older women coo at him, or even yell “Open! Open!” as money keeps flowing in on a gambling match. His character in the new film, “Tazza 2,” is one that no one has seen him attempt before.

He even got to “love” for the first time. In “Commitment,” he got to experience special feelings for a girl that had the same name as his younger sister. But since it was a story about a North Korean spy trying to save his younger sister, a deeper romantic plot didn’t happen. Of course, “Tazza 2” isn’t a romance movie, either. But romance definitely exists. There is his first love Heo Min Ah (portrayed by Shin Se Kyung) and there is also his past love interest Madam Woo (portrayed by Honey Lee).

As this was his first attempt at this kind of character, it was definitely a challenge for T.O.P. And when faced with this challenge there would have also been a lot of fear—fear of the results, whether he would be criticized for his acting, etc., etc. T.O.P actually revealed that he was very hesitant when deciding whether or not to take the role. But what made him make his final decision was his trust in the director, Kang Hyung Chul, who had confidence in the film, as well as the empathy he felt as he read the scenario.

T.O.P revealed in a recent interview with OSEN, “The first worry I had when I received the scenario was the fact that ‘Tazza’ is a classic cartoon that has a large fan base. There are especially many fans in the older generations as opposed to the younger generations, so I was quite hesitant when trying to decide whether or not to take the role. And I knew that as soon as I decided to do it there would be a high risk. If there was a certain level of gain in the case that I did well and the film was successful, I knew that there would be a higher risk if the movie was not successful. I had a lot of worries but in the end I think that was what stimulated me even more. I think the director also wanted to venture into that risk as well. So the director and I had a lot of conversations as we proceeded with filming. Sometimes the director would say to me, ‘Just trust me,’ and to be honest, that gave me a lot of strength.”

He continued, “As I read the scenario I identified a lot with the character, and I thought other men would be able to do the same. The character tends to think lightly of his dreams and continues forward with the ambitions of youth. This can sometimes be reckless but I think it’s something that everyone can identify with. That is the connecting factor with the character.”

He continued, “If I took the pressure too seriously I probably wouldn’t have been able to decide on taking on the role even after months of contemplation. Instead of being pressured I tried to imagine how I would portray Ham Dae Gil if I were living in his time. I tried to act as his advocate, thinking about how he would express himself or how he would think. So instead of being pressured I think I was more impassive. I wanted to not be so greedy and just make a character with my own individual uniqueness.”

Due to his efforts, T.O.P was able to grow and mature both as a person and an actor. Rather than the monetary success of the film, he wanted to put the significance on his attempt at the challenge. He reflected back on his experience, “It could have been a reckless attempt in the view of others as well as myself when I look back objectively at the experience. But no matter the results, I think I gain confidence in the fact that I did it with a youthful ambition. Normally, there’s always a fear of failure before starting anything, but I didn’t have that kind of fear. I think the reckless challenge itself will serve as a pleasant memory in the future.”

Did you guys see any of his movies? What did you think?