Park Jihoon said he was "moved" by Wanna One's reunion after seven years.
On the morning of the 27th at a café in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, an interview was held with Park Jihoon, the lead actor of the film "The Man Who Lives with the King."
The film "The Man Who Lives with the King" (director Jang Hang-jun, distributed by SHOWBOX, produced by Onda Works and B.A. Entertainment) is set in 1457 at Cheongnyeongpo and tells the story of a village headman who volunteered for exile for the revitalization of the village and the young former king exiled from the throne. It depicted the last year of the ill-fated King Danjong and the story of the real-life figure Eom Heung-do (played by Yoo Hai Jin), who stayed by his side, and for the first time in Korean cinema revealed Danjong's hidden story.
Park Jihoon plays Lee Hong-wi, King Danjong, the sixth king of Joseon. He became king at the young age of 12, was deprived of the throne by his uncle, Grand Prince Suyang, and tragically died in exile; he is the ill-fated young king. To portray his emaciation, he lost as much as 15 kilograms. In this film, Park Jihoon is a former child actor who became an idol as a member of Wanna One through the Mnet audition program "Produce 101 Season 2" in 2017, and later pursued acting concurrently. He has appeared in "Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency," "Love Revolution," "At A Distance Spring is Green," "The World Is Beautiful Audrey," and the "Weak Hero Class" series.
In particular, this first half of the year includes the release of "The Man Who Lives with the King" and the upcoming Wanna One reunion. Wanna One, which enjoyed a syndromic level of popularity, disbanded in early 2019 due to a limited activity period, but announced a reunion after seven years and confirmed production of a reality program (Wanna One Go). Mnet is preparing for a release in the first half of 2026.
Park Jihoon said, "I wondered how much of this I should talk about. We filmed the reality variety show, and a few episodes remain. We had a pre-meeting together, and the members all ate together. That was also filmed. The members saw each other twice, but I had filming that day so I couldn't go, and I saw them once each," adding, "Kang Daniel went to the military. Lai Kuan-lin is in China, so aside from those two, everyone readily agreed. We had so much fun filming."
Asked, "How did you feel getting together again?" he said, "It was so beautiful. It was moving to see that we gathered looking toward the same place. They are people who performed beautifully, and they are members, so memories of the past came back and I thought, 'We used to be like that..'" adding, "It was amazing that we were gathered in the same place for the fans who love us."
In the past, Park Jihoon said in an interview, "Actually, I don't contact the members. It's not that we're not close; I support them in my heart, but I don't contact them separately," which prompted some to speculate about discord.
In response, he said, "I don't usually contact people. I'm not the type to do it often. It's not that we don't contact each other because of bad feelings; I didn't know what to say. In fact, Wanna One members were together longer than family. During our activity period we lived together longer than with our families, so even if we don't contact each other, we can always be glad to see one another," adding, "Everyone is busy living their own lives, so I thought, should we be contacting each other? I'm not the planning type, and I figured they'd manage on their own. I supported them silently," he said with a laugh.
He also confessed with a laugh, "Today we're holding the VIP screening of 'The Man Who Lives with the King,' and the Wanna One members whose schedules allow said they would come on their own," adding, "These days the group chat rooms have become very active. It's lively, so I even wrote and sent a video letter to Gwanlin. Now everyone talks a lot. Still, relatively quiet members like me are silent."
Meanwhile, "The Man Who Lives with the King" opens on Feb. 4.
[Photo] Provided by SHOWBOX
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