Actor Cho Sang-gu, beloved for his role as Sirasoni in 'The Age of Wild Men', has been reported to have translated over 1,400 films, including the movie 'Titanic', which has surprised many.
Cho Sang-gu appeared as a guest on the web entertainment show 'Clemuck Time', released on YouTube on March 19. He met with actor Lee Dong-jun and shared updates about his current status as an actor, starting from the hit drama 'The Age of Wild Men'.
'The Age of Wild Men' is a drama that created a national syndrome with a peak audience rating of 57%. Among them, Cho Sang-gu received much love for his role as Sirasoni in his middle age. However, it was noted that his appearance fee was the lowest.
Cho Sang-gu revealed, "I wanted to play the role of Sirasoni since I was a child. I auditioned, but I was anxious because I did not receive a casting call. Later, I got a call, but it was initially a contract for 8 episodes. I appeared from the 51st episode, but I only had a cameo for 8 episodes before exiting." He continued, "Even for 8 episodes, since I was the main character, I thought I should do it properly. I was also worried that I might not be used again. The appearance fee was the lowest. I probably received the least. I was the oldest, though."
However, Cho Sang-gu stated, "But after shooting 4 episodes, I requested to extend the contract. Later, I appeared until the final episode, up to the 124th episode." He added, "At that time, during the action scenes, action director Lee Young-soo filmed it very harshly. He really wanted it to be realistic." He also noted, "It has been 23 years, but they still contact me. The team from 'The Age of Wild Men' is like family, still keeping in touch."
However, being Sirasoni also became a double-edged sword. The roles Cho Sang-gu took after that became buried. He stated, "After that, I did many decent roles. I played Jjak-gwi in the drama 'Tazza', but people do not remember it. When I filmed 'The War of the Century', 'Siak', and 'Mu-shin', everyone would say, 'Cho Sang-gu's role is good this time,' and the director would be satisfied, but the moment it ended, everything got buried. I just became Sirasoni."
Outside of being a beloved actor, Cho Sang-gu was once one of the representative translators of Chungmuro. Graduating from Dongguk University with an English major, he stated, "I translated about 1,400 pieces. I worked for 19 years. At first, it was to make a living."
Cho Sang-gu disclosed, "After shooting 'The Foreign Football Team', I received about 1 million won, but later a staff member asked if I would try translation work. It was in 1985, and back then, it was about 30,000 won per film. That was significant for me."
He laughed, saying, "I wanted to become a movie actor and go to Hollywood, so I decided to major in English. Dongguk University is also next to Chungmuro, so I went there. I could watch movies every day." He continued, "I worked hard at translation as well. I had to do a good job for the next project to be offered. If the translation was not appealing, I wouldn't get another chance. It had to be interesting to watch. At that time, the subtitles were vertical, with 7 characters per line, and the second line couldn't fit more than 7 characters. So I had to finish translating between 7 and 10 characters. If the cut changed while reading the subtitles, I wouldn't get the project."
[Photo] OSEN DB, source from YouTube.
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