Interview : Nov '08 SURE : Park Sihoo and his aesthetics of slowness

Translated by Jinju. parksihoo.com, thank you!

Different from whom his younger brother does, he looks more like his mother, being often told his eyes are particular. His cold first impression looking cut and trimmed to the extent of aloofness was introduced previously in the personae of Sihoo, slowly melting down into the character Gangseok.

Park Sihoo and his aesthetics of slowness

Benchmarketing traditional rites of the main line family, the conversation between father and the son is dumbfounding. To Lee Cheongap (role of Yeon Gyujin)’s preposterous strategies rattling off in ‘The Glory of the Family’ just launched, Lee Gangseok makes agreeable responses in a dexterous manner, without even his face out of order. By the performance of Park Sihoo letting out as not even a month passed since undressing a hat and attire of old times, it seems the TV viewers are highly amused, considering how the bulletin board is already bustling after the first time on-air.

There are not a few supporting messages for the TV actor called Park Sihoo. Watching the drama as well as furtively seeing the confident facial expression of Park Sihoo appearing in place of the supplicatory character-explaining words “Come and watch once this time, and you will be aware,” one now gets to realize belatedly how it is.

At the studio where we met after filming of the sixth episode, he says, this is the most worthwhile character of those which he’s ever assumed. So then, how can it be not good of the result? It might be a bit too early to talk big, but the premonition is good.


Between Sihoo and Park Sihoo

Park Sihoo says, “While filming of the drama ‘Iljimae,’ I at first thought to myself, what time again would I be back in this nice place within the country. In the mean time, it was arduous times of work because of frequent long distance moves, so was the staff. It was brought home to me how an actor isn’t the person doing only acting.”

For the sake of shooting a single scene, he moved to Gangwon-do to Chungcheong-do to wherever there is good scenery several times a day despite however distant it is. Although the drama had good pieces of scenes as elaborately as they worked, it seems the itineraries day after day would have been quite some hard even to the one who has some solid physical strength through steady workouts daily. Because the drama of people’s attention was such a hard work, the drama Iljimae became a more gemlike piece of work to the actor Park Sihoo.

The character was very nice-looking with the stark-slick line of hat along with his small and keen-looking face of sharply-cast eyes, firmly-closed lips. A policeman serving in Uigeumbu government office in the drama, the character Sihoo attracted more audience’s attention than Iljimae the protagonist, as a matter of fact. Under the command to go bring the cut-out finger of the younger sister for the sake of detection where Iljimae was, Sihoo brings out the amputated finger of his own in place of the sister’s one, whose love of humanity was sufficient enough for the audience to cast all-supporting votes for him. In a sense, his character the Uigeumbu policeman might have had a share in the popularity, but his tidy and reliable image remains in a lot of people’s minds. On an occasion, he was appointed as a publicity envoy of the police administration a while ago.

Park Sihoo says, “Do they say I am cold-looking and hard to be close? In fact, I am, originally, mild-hearted, while shy of strangers.” The first sight impression is cold and difficult to be near.

The jam-packed curly hair, which he says feels like an airtight texture and an eyesore, is also not so much his vulnerable spot to onlookers’ eyes. One thinks that an aura of tension and boundary surrounding him might loosen a little if drinking and talking with him, but even this isn’t allowed of. He doesn’t drink or smoke, either. Wrong was the editor’s guesstimate of whether he might have been temperate in order to keep fit with good and tight muscles.

The writer suggested he might as well spoil himself to his heart’s content as a preparation for the coming new character Gangseok he would perform, which proposal was also powerless in front of his family background where there had been no hard drinking. The reason is because abrupt sleepiness overcomes him at most times, which phenomenon hasn’t set in until having a glass of liquor, so that the practice of drink sing and dance falls short of even the singing and dancing. Except for the camera filming his participatory drama, he is still not free in front of cameras. It might also be because of this temperament of him that he realized how performance isn’t easy.

It is unlike his driving force and passion enough to come up to the capital positively and look for a theatrical troupe 10 years ago when he made a decision to enter the acting circles. Park Sihoo says, “If I couldn’t have been an actor, I might have entered business. Before I set out into acting, business is one of the paths I could have chosen.” If anything comes, he never does without doing it for himself so that he may make himself at home, and if something sets into his mind, he never does it without putting it into practice immediately and bringing it to an end, which temperament of him is none other but that of businessman. It is understood also from this context that he left his former management company to stand for himself a time ago.

Park Sihoo says, “Being aside from a management company might be a crisis for the maintenance of an actor. In the meantime, I found it was attractive being alone in its own way, when I thought in a while after I was independent at my will.” His younger brother who used to be a baseball player and some others who share spiritual bonds are presently those whom Park Sihoo works with. It seems better for him to lead his career on his own as a temperament that isn’t satisfied unless actualizing it whatever he wants to do. In like manner, his favorite sports are those that bring easily distinguishable effects in proportion to a person’s performance. For instance, as a person who liked soccer more than baseball, he enjoyed doing chin-ups and parallel bars while his other school mates enjoying soccer. So his style is the way that he sets his goal, towards which he steadily endeavors to be nearer and nearer. Although he is an actor who has caught public gaze in between mere 2~3 years, the expression ‘a slowly-flaming actor’ is right and proper, considering his situation 10 years ago where he was so studious learning because he just liked the stage. As it were, his competitor in 10 years would have been none other but him himself.

And Gangseok

By and by, his concern has reached Gangseok. Like hard drinking to make himself smooth and slippery, as stated above, he is working away at breaking his old image he has been in. Park Sihoo said, “Currently I am centering upon voice training.” I imagined whether he would take a private tutored lesson, but he then said he had been teaching himself voice trainings in secluded spaces like the Hangang Riverside Citizen Park at midnight. It is because he needs ‘a voice that is manful and affectionate.’ Well then, is his mild and deep drama voice not good and manly at all? Yes, he still doesn’t seem to be satisfied with the few times of efforts until reaching the voice he has in mind.

Park Sihoo says, “Gongseok is generally the image of a rough man. His role is, so to speak, like the king of a wild animal group, the king that is masculine and a little more leisurely than other wild animals.” Gangseok is the businessman who uses any means by hook or crook in order to approach his target prey, that is, the son of the upstart rich man Lee Cheongap who says, Shouldn’t the main line family’s condolence money at least be 10 million won to save the face? He should render both characters into one together, one an aggressive businessman who is slippery and rushing at a target like a wild beast, while another a brother who is infinitely mild toward his younger sister. Because the character Lee Gangseok is this time a good and excellent chance to do away with his earlier-performed characters and his original images, Park Sihoo has no other choice but to have a extraordinary mental preparation towards representing the character.

Park Sihoo says, “Frankly, in a corner of my brains, I was thinking to myself, Why didn’t I take a rest, with even a month off? The writer I meet in the drama 'How to Meet a Perfect Neighbor' made a phone call to me for sounding out some opinion, and the drama and character both were quite to my taste. After having a week off as soon as the ending of 'Iljimae', I right away entered the filming. As yet, I must admit there is a little bit aftermath of the character ‘Sihoo’ lingering on.” Recently, whether out of some problematic thinking therefrom, he packed his backsack with things and went to Japan to have a day or two tour around spas and others near Karuizawa in Japan. I understand his mental condition. I guess the half-body bath and contemplation trip might have been in order that he might fill himself up with Gangseok instead of Sihoo.

There are over 70 pieces of baseball caps in his chest of drawers. He frequents fashion magazines, often reading the up-to-date styles. He received a Reica digital camera from a fan as a gift, which is what he usually wished to get. Skin scuba diving, wake board, and whatever other sports that lead to sweating is what he likes so much, and so is car, for which he has a extraordinary affection.

Leaving the reluctance to give up the existing model Porsche 911 Turbo behind, he is currently indulging himself in a new Jaguar model car. He tells he wasn’t able to help buying it because he fell in love with it as soon as a first glance in the outlet. I guess he may have been enchanted by its modern posture that had the existing Jaguar models’ classical charming implicitly. Away from connections with crowded people, and by the time of being alone, he never ends up his day without his car.

One by one pictures of him laid out on his daily life, they are solely of his own, which have been unnoticed in TV screen. The character Sihoo, and the character Gangseok to be unfolded hereafter, perhaps these two might not be Park Sihoo the real person. So I mean this actor Park Sihoo has yet a lot to show.

Credit : parksihoo.com, thank you!

Credit : parksihoobar.com, thank you!