ways to love him: program writer kim
sweet sister works so fast!! she'd already emailed me chapter 18 yesterday! but hee, coz i was rambling and ranting quite abit myself, so i thought i'd save her translation for today. don't want her hard work to get all tangled up and missed in my postings. thank you so much for your tireless effort, sweet sister!chapter 18 is sort of like a continuation to chapter 17. the last chapter was an interview with the producer of the kbs photo documentary program, and this chapter is with the writer of the same program.
original in japanese: ways to love yonsama
translated into english: a sweet sister / bb's blog
pics & links added by: yours truly, bb!
Ch 18 – A Straightforward 'Friend’s Love'
Program Writer, Kim So Yeon
Delving Into the Human Element
Made Our Project Acceptable
Photo Documentary was a project created and produced out of our wish that the popularity for hallyu stars would not end as just a short-lived fad, but that its deeply rooted popularity would continue to hold.
The project was planned as a series and the first episode featured BYJ. If the first episode did not feature BYJ, the program’s existence would be questioned (laughs). If we had featured someone else in the first episode, we would have ended up wondering when to feature BYJ.
At any rate, we had to ask for cooperation from BYJ’s management office, BOF, so we sent a draft of the program content to BOF. While we were waiting for a reply from them, we went around communicating with people close to BYJ, explaining to them the value of BYJ appearing in this program so that BYJ’s management would hear of these messages and of these urgent appeals. Our single-hearted focus was making this project a reality one way or another, and my memory of all this was that it was very tiresome.
The result was that BYJ’s management agreed to cooperate on this project, and I believe the reason was that, though there were programs that did close-ups of BYJ up to then as a star, there were no programs that attempted to report on his human aspect. Because it was the project intention of Photo Documentary and our wish to report in depth on his human aspect, it seemed that BYJ’s management felt this was an attractive point.
Then I think that they were also pleased with the fact that BYJ would not have to be personally interviewed, and that people from various fields surrounding BYJ would speak about BYJ. In this way, BYJ himself would be able to remain veiled in secrecy. BYJ, at that time, was in the US and it ended up where we were unable to meet with him at all. It is my understanding that following his instructions, though I have not heard this directly from BYJ, and probably for all these reasons that BYJ’s management agreed to this project.
What Ryu Seung Soo (Yong Kuk) Revealed,
and Stories That Didn’t Air
In the interviews of the people who had close contact with BYJ, we also talked to actors. It was not that difficult in getting the approval from the actors for interviews. Perhaps it is because of the fact that BYJ is an important star in Korea, that it seems that everyone readily consented.
Actor Park Joon Hoon, who is closer to Jang Dong Gun than BYJ, also happily consented to our request for an interview.
Ryu Seung Soo, who played the role of Yong Kuk in WS, told us the story of how BYJ loves to cook and hates to have any help, but this was cut from the broadcast along with many other interesting stories.
For example, when Ryu Seung Soo goes to visit BYJ at his condo, BYJ would not be dressed yet and greeted him in his pajama bottoms and T-shirt, or BYJ, who has a large dog at home, when that dog would soil the carpet, BYJ would admonish that dog as if scolding a small child saying, *'Me!' Such were the fun and amusing stories he told us. Wouldn’t we all want to see such scenes of BYJ? Such stories stir our imagination.
* 'Me' is pronounced more like 'meh' than 'me', as in 'me' in 'megane ichiba'. suehan has helped to check with a korean sister, and apparently 'Me' means 'Maemmae', which is what someone says when they scold a child.
While we were interviewing those people close to BYJ, we were struck by the thought that BYJ has many friends. There is Kim Seung Woo, co-starred in Hotelier, Park Joon Hoon, singer/actor Shin Sung Woo (starred in Tropical Nights in December, Man in Crisis, Wild Funny Girl), with all of whom he is said to drink the night away at street stalls.
Especially, Kim Seung Woo and BYJ are not known for being heavy drinkers, but when they get drunk, they can talk passionately all through the night. BYJ’s natural appearance is veiled in secrecy but surprisingly he loves to talk, and I wondered if he was a calm and approachable person.
Kim Seung Woo also told us this story.
You know that BYJ often has the habit of putting his hands to his chest. Frankly speaking, up until then, I thought that gesture was a bit affected. But BYJ was heard to have said, "When I feel that so many people are looking at only me, there are times when the tears well up and overflow."
He said that the fans do not ask anything of him, and almost like a first love, where a pure love is riveted on him, he felt the love of the fans reverberate within his chest. Because of that, his hands would naturally go to his chest. He said the only way to suppress the emotion in his chest was to place his hands on his chest.
*bb: keke, they had also used the same hand-on-chest pose when making the wax figure for the madam tussard wax museum in hong kong! err... just in case you didn't know, the yong joon below is real, this picture was taken when they're doing the life-size measurements.
When I heard that story, I began to think that BYJ’s gesture of putting his hands to his chest was a natural thing. Not only that, after I heard that story, I ended up being very moved by that story.
My Bias Against 'Robot-Like Actors'
After producing Photo Documentary, my impression of BYJ has also greatly changed. Since he had the strong image of always smiling the same smile and being known as an actor for his strict self-control, I thought these were all calculated moves on his part which also contributed to the slightly non-human 'robot-like actor' bias I had against him.
But when I heard the story that he frantically did re-takes of the same scene more than 30 times in the movie, April Snow until he collapsed, I came to realize that my thinking was a mistaken bias. Looking beneath the surface of becoming a major star, we see that he puts in considerable effort, and that his attitude toward acting is different from the norm. I changed my mind when I found out popularity cannot be obtained by simply being calculating and showing individual self-control.
I also felt that the actor BYJ was not afraid of transforming himself. He is currently taking on a challenge in the new historical project, TWSSG, and before that, in the film AS, he displayed complex emotions.
BYJ will probably continue his efforts to master the road as an actor from here on. He cannot stay forever in the role of Jun Sahng in WS.
That is why, for example, if it is ten years from now then in 10 years, I think that he will still have a grasp on the fans’ hearts since he will again have a new appeal which is different from his current young, dignified appearance. At that time he will have a restrained style that is not evident yet, and with a new added charm, the fan base will probably change. It is my hope that the Japanese fans will continue to watch over BYJ with warmth and love forever.
p.s. this chapter mentioned shin sung woo, although not much else was mentioned of him here. but if you had read the kbs photo documentary translation that i'd posted earlier, you will remember that wuri yong joon would sometimes sing his hyeong shin sung woo's songs. he's a singer/actor btw.hee, seems like in the heydays, shin was really popular as a singer and people would go wild over his long locks. but he later cut his hair, but seems like he's grown his hair long again from a few years ago. anyway, one of his most famous song was something called 서시 (first poem), released in his third album back in 1994. i remember reading somewhere this was one of the songs that wuri yong joon would sing.
and this is his more recent look, i suppose....
posted by bb @ 12/16/2007 10:24:00 PM
4 Comments:
Hello Dear BB!
Sorry been MIA - terribly busy trying to take care of business before the holidays.
Thanks much for all your posts. Haven't had a chance to read each one in depth, but will do so once I can breathe.
Take good care and have a great week!
Dear BB and sisters:
Thank you so much during this busy time of the year for any bit of info about HRH.
You are a genius: understanding so well that we miss him so much.
To tell the truth, he is always in the background of my mind. Always thinking about his injuries and the maybe operation.
Let pray for the best and thank you for cheering me up.
Happy Holidays to you, to your family and to all my Bae-sisters.
Violet
hi hi gals!
yea, i reckon alot of you gals must be terribly busy this time of the year... i can't believe christmas is only a week away!!!
and oh man... i'll do anything to avoid going to the mall, or just going anywhere... it's so darned crowded!!
but sighs... i've so much shopping to do i can't avoid it :(
and the weather's been terribly wet, that always slows down traffic and all... sighs...
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