EXO member and actor Doh Kyung Soo expressed his feelings after taking on his first villain role.
On the afternoon of the 11th at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, a concluding interview was held with lead actor Doh Kyung Soo of the Disney+ original drama The Manipulated.
The Manipulated is an action drama in which Tae-joong (played by Ji Chang Wook), who led an ordinary life, one day is wrongly implicated in a heinous crime and sent to prison, and when he learns that everything was planned by Yohann (played by Doh Kyung Soo), he carries out revenge against him.
Through this work I challenged myself with my first villain role. Doh Kyung Soo said, "I actually always wanted to do this kind of role, but I couldn't because I never got the chance. Rather than feeling burdened or worried, I thought it would be fun. So being able to express something new was a new experience and I really enjoyed filming," and added, "I don't usually express my emotions strongly or speak loudly. But through the character I got to shout and push my emotions to the extreme, which was fun."
When asked about the efforts to portray the intimidating An Yohann character, he said, "I considered external aspects like hairstyle and clothing. The hair may not have looked like much, but it took four hours. I bleached it, damaged it, and permed it with a drill. If you attach it to the drill and spin it, it turns. I made it into a cone shape and dyed it black. I was worried it wouldn't be visible, but one or two people asked, 'Did you really do your hair like that?' and that made me proud. In truth, it wasn't very visible, so I regretted it a bit. Bleaching first would have made it more visible, but dyeing it black made it hard to see, which was a pity," he confessed.
He continued, "I always thought that rather than someone saying, 'I'm a bad person,' something simple and childlike might be scarier," and added, "I referred to other works and documentaries, and when you watch a documentary about someone with that kind of disposition, you focus only on that. The simple, childlike single-mindedness itself is frightening. So I thought of and approached Yohann that way. If you watch documentaries like Netflix's "Don't Touch the Cat," you see that such people lacked sociality from childhood and (their cruel acts) start with animals and later extend to humans. Seeing that helped me understand 'those people are like that.' Also, old Korean and foreign films I watched as a child—fleeting scenes came together, I thought about them again, and I ended up imitating some of that," he said, describing what he referenced.
Especially, fellow actors who worked with him on The Manipulated, such as Ji Chang Wook and Lee Kwang Soo, had at times described Doh Kyung Soo as "having a madness inside." In response, Doh Kyung Soo said, "I didn't take out my natural self while acting at all. If Yohann had that in him, it would be a big problem. But one similarity is that when I focus I can't multitask. I think Yohann can multitask well, but that aspect is somewhat similar," and added, "The older actors said things like 'he has madness,' but I still don't really know. I don't know what kind of madness they're referring to. I think they meant it in a flattering way," he explained.
When asked whether there were parts of the drama that even he found chilling or surprising, he said, "I tend not to monitor on set, so there were many things I didn't check. Watching the work I thought, 'I make that expression too.' I rarely have seen myself raise my emotions like that, so watching The Manipulated I realized, 'I have that side too.'" He added, "Like when killing Woo Min-hyung (played by Bae Na Ra), it was extremely intense. At the time we filmed hurriedly and I didn't monitor, but checking through Disney+ I felt like I saw a new side of myself."
When asked whether, after The Manipulated was released, people around him began to doubt his character in real life, Doh Kyung Soo said, "On set, some staff looked at me strangely. That meant they thought I did well, so I was very happy.." and added, "While doing my hair I jokingly said, 'I won't do it, don't stare at me.' At restaurants, sometimes they wouldn't give me an extra piece of meat when grilling. Those things really happened. I was a bit hurt by that," sharing a bittersweet anecdote that drew laughter. (Interview part 2 continues.)<
[Photo] Disney+
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