"There's no scene that is not important" Park Jeongmin for GQ Korea August Issue

(disclaimer : this is a fan translation and I do not monetize this in any way so please do not take this for your own advantage. there might be some inaccuracies)

 

 

 

GQ : Director Ryoo Seungwan recently said. You match his code. Do you agree?

Jeongmin : I agree.

GQ : which part?

Jeongmin : I find what he says is really funny. He has a lot of witty and humor. His ideas and directing were so much fun that I feel proud of doing it. Among many people, I think I caught what dir. Ryoo was trying to say the fastest and laughed first.
GQ : You're quick to notice his “this is humor”, right?
Jeongmin : That's right.
GQ : Is that a high quality humor?
Jeongmin : I'd say it’s a retro humor

 

 

GQ : dir. Choi Jungyeol of "Start-Up" said, "the 2 Korean actors who are good at acting as deliverymen at Chinese restaurants in are Park Jeongmin in "Start-Up" and Ryoo Seungwan in "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance."
Jeongmin : Wouldn't that be a statement that meant to be  a shout out to the production company Filmmaker R & K (Ryoo Seungwan and his wife’s production company also the one that produced Start-Up)? It's about his actor and the producer. But I agree about it to some extent.
GQ : What one should do to do a good job at acting as a delivery man at a Chinese restaurant?
Jeongmin : (Pointing at himself] You have to keep this figure. My "Born to Be" body shape.
GQ : Recently, you said, "dir. Ryoo Seungwan found a side of me that I didn't even know."
Jeongmin : When I received Smugglers’ scenario my first thought was "Oh, there's someone who’d give me this kind of role" and because that someone is dir. Ryoo I was proud and it was meaningful. I don't know how this will be seen, but out of all the characters in the movie, the character that is closest to dir. Ryoo was Jang Dori the character that I played. My favorite director's language was reflected in the character. I heard that the director made a character based on a motive that he knew well when he was younger. That’s why he gave me a detailed direction. From an actor's point of view it's "thank you" I'm thankful.
GQ : dir. Ryoo once said that he usually told Park Jeongmin, "Just do 60 percent."
Jeongmin : "You don't have to try to be too good because you have the actor look. It's an advantage because you look like you're doing well even if you don't do anything." Hahaha.

 

GQ : Meanwhile, director Shin Yeonshick (t/n : he worked with Jeongmin said in Dongju and One Win) said in Movie Room "He's an actor who works so hard. I hope he doesn't do that after he's 35."
Jeongmin : Honestly, I don't think I work harder than I used to be. (laugh). In the past, I thought I just had to work hard. I think I did a lot of meaningless things. If you don't know how to study, you think you have to memorize the whole thing. After that you realized (that) you didn't have to memorize the whole thing. In that kind of sense. These days, I feel like I'm slowly learning where to distribute my energy. I tend to refrain from putting energy into areas where I don't have to go through trial and error. I'm relatively devoted to script analysis and filming, and I'm also concerned about managing my physical strength. If I’m not on my best condition on set, that day will be ruined. I'm trying to be more flexible. I think I'll have to, if I want to do this for a long time.
GQ : When you think of Park Jeongmin, there's always a keyword next to him, "Hard Worker". It’s like a frame.
Jeongmin : That’s right. If it's a movie that requires a skill that I don’t have like piano, if I don't work hard, if it doesn't seem like I did it at some point I’d feel like I’m guilty. I always do my best though (laughs). To think it simply, technology that stands out to the audience can be a foul in some ways. Director Ryoo Seungwan always says this. Even if you act as an ordinary office worker, you should be an actor who can attract the viewers for 2 hours". I agree with him, I think one should have the power to lead any ordinary character.
GQ : The media tends to like the "exemplary actor" frame.
Jeongmin : I can't even smoke because I feel like the youth of the times.
GQ : Wouldn't the role of Jang Dori be a new paradigm? I've been hearing this lately. "Smugglers will be Park Jeongmin's signature movie."
Jeongmin : That's also a frame.(laughs)
GQ : During the 10th anniversary of "Bleak Night" you talked with Lee Jehoon and said, "Bleak Night feels like a big mountain behind me," but is it finally over.
Jeongmin : Baekhee or Jang Dori, you need to see and compare them both.

 

 

GQ : You said that if you take a role, you imagine it in various ways, assuming that another actor plays this role. Who did you think of this time?
Jeongmin : I thought a lot about Ryoo Seungbum. It's a role that Ryoo Seungbum can do really well. Ryoo Seungbum from the time we loved.
GQ : because it's Park Jeongmin who played it, what’s added to it?
Jeongmin : I think it's more pathetic.
GQ : After directing Watcha's "Unframed – Vote for I don’t know" you went to film "Smugglers" right away. I think the change in thoughts that you encountered while directing was inevitably reflected in your acting.
Jeongmin : "There is no bad director in the world." Directors are both “a job” and “people who has too much work”. I thought I should listen to the director’s direction well. Of course, by studying and analyzing the script I can find the direction by discussing with the director and think that “I’m doing this right”. It's more like "I erased my thoughts" (and listen to the director’s direction). The director must have already looked into the scenario hundreds or thousands of times. I should be an actor in a well-drawn painting and play a role in embodying it well, so I don't have to judge right or wrong.
GQ : I remember you said this in Golbang Talk (youtuber Kim Dankun’s, watch Jeongmin’s episode here) "There are times when actors show performances that directors don't even think of. The moment when the actor and the director feel that it's "complete/perfect" is not something that can be done through analyzing” Have you felt or seen it recently?
Jeongmin : Such moments are very rare. Oh, during the filming of "Harbin," there was a certain acting that (Actor Jo) Woojin played that everyone felt was "complete/perfect". I respected and liked him a lot as a senior but that moment made me like him even more.

 

 

GQ : You said you were curious about how to make such moments happen often and if you can achieve such moments through effort, didn’t you? Do you have any idea?
Jeongmin : I've been thinking about this a lot lately. "There's no scene that's not important" If I prepare it with that in mind, there are times when something comes out that I don't even know. I feel like something that I couldn't imagine is coming out because I feel like I'm cherishing every scene. I think it’s the way I cherish every scene, even when I don’t have lines it’s all just as important, that’s the most effective approach. Did I miss anything? Are there any holes? Since the filming schedule doesn’t necessarily following the story timeline, there are times when the acting of the front scene and the back scene does not match unless you constantly think about and consider the emotions and conditions of the characters. While filming a scene, there were times when I thought, "I acted wrong in that previous scene". That kind of mistake, I have to keep the thinking on how to lessen the “hole”. If I don't get myself together, 100 people in the set might missed it. It may be a subtle difference that the audience doesn't know, but we, someone must have known.

GQ : I remember you said that you were very flustered because there were scenes filmed way ahead of schedule during “Bleak Night” filming. Do you still feel scared or anxious when you think of such a situation?
Jeongmin : I do. But it’s not supposed to go my way, my duty is to prepare for it, so I have to do it. There are also scenes that I want to postpone as much as possible and I wish to never come. In that case, I'll lend them my face and let AI take over.

 

GQ : Have you used Chat GPT?
Jeongmin : Yes, but it still have a long way to go? I haven't been very interested in it yet.
GQ : You said before, "I'm afraid that someday they can make brains for robots."
Jeongmin : From a macro perspective, I sometimes think that the direction may be right. Hahahaha. Humans are imperfect/incomplete being that it would not be bad for them to occupy the earth. Of course, it’d be saddening and I don't want that to happen, but when I think about it, it's hard to tell will it be them or us that will save the universe?

GQ : You said you wanted to act in love, what do you think about romantic story with AI?
Jeongmin : I don't want to do that. It means I won’t have a partner/co-star. I want to have a normal one.
GQ : At first glance, I think I heard that Jang Dori also has "immortal love."
Jeongmin : But Jang Dori is such a “bad guy”.
GQ :  Does that mean it's fatal?
Jeongmin : You can say that. [Laughing].

GQ :  37 is the most perfect number. And this year, Park Jeongmin is 37 years old.
Jeongmin : 37 doesn’t mean much in the movie. But 37 is meaningful to me. When I first visited the Chaimu Theater Company, Park Wonsang and all the actors I admired there were 37 years old at the time. I imagined myself while looking at them like "Can I be like them when I turn thirty-seven?"’
GQ : How far you think you came now?
Jeongmin : I still have a long way to go, but I've achieved half of it.
GQ : What do you not want to forget right now, following the tattoo on your right arm?
Jeongmin : I didn't want to lose my initial commitment. It's been a while since I saw that tattoo.
GQ : What's Park Jeongmin's desire now?
Jeongmin : Raising the LoL tier.

 

translated by : forjeongmin

source : 박정민 “‘중요하지 않은 신은 없다’는 마음으로 준비해요” | 지큐 코리아 (GQ Korea)

박정민 “’중요하지 않은 신은 없다’는 마음으로 준비해요”