(continuing from interview ③) Actor Kim Jaewon revealed incidents including a physical fight with Choi Daniel in Yumi's Cells 3, expressing his passion for growth.
Kim Jaewon held an interview at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 7th. At the event, he met with domestic reporters and talked about the recently concluded popular TVING original series Yumi's Cells 3.
Yumi's Cells 3 is a cell-stimulating empathy romance drama about Yumi (played by Kim Go-eun), who has become a star writer and whose uneventful life is suddenly upended by an unexpected person, causing her to laugh, cry and fall in love once again. Based on the popular webtoon of the same name, the series opened with its first season in 2021, and Kim Jaewon gave a passionate performance as Shin Sun-rok, the male lead in season 3.
There was also an unwanted guest in the romance between Yumi and Sun-rok, which began with 'hate at first sight.' It was senior writer Kim Ju-ho (played by Choi Daniel). He, who was also Sun-rok's assigned writer, sometimes tormented Sun-rok with bossy errands like an old-school superior and at other times made Sun-rok realize his feelings by subtly flirting with and confessing to Yumi.
Because of this, Sun-rok even had a physical fight with writer Kim Ju-ho. Kim Jaewon said of this, 'It was a series of holding back laughter. Even while acting, our egos kept popping up moment by moment. We filmed rolling around as two men in that beautiful flower garden cafe in Suwon's Haenggung-dong,' he confessed. He continued, 'Additionally, I am very close with and fond of senior Choi Daniel. Even though I was a less experienced newcomer, he guided me well. On set he made things comfortable despite the hot weather, so we were able to film well. I was so happy, and even though it was an action scene, we filmed it very safely,' he said with a laugh.
Kim Jaewon also responded to reactions that Sun-rok and Kim Ju-ho's action did not look intense, saying, 'If I may speculate, I thought the purpose was to play the scene in a fun way. Rather than treating the fight scene heavily, they are fighting, but a third party might see it as a serious situation. The main point of that scene was that Sun-rok did something he normally wouldn't do, and that suggested Yumi was someone who could change Sun-rok. The fight wasn't the main point. I wondered why he acted that way. I thought there might be another reason for the scene,' he evaluated.
Although Kim Jaewon is gaining attention in earnest through Yumi's Cells 3, he has shown growth to the point of receiving consecutive favorable reviews following the Netflix series You and Everything Else and Lady Dua. He also served as an MC for KBS 2TV music program MUSIC BANK. Kim Jaewon said his first priority in choosing projects is 'what new side of me I haven't shown.'
He said he took MUSIC BANK without hesitation because he thought the opportunity to appear live in 155 countries would not come again. Based on that experience, he said he is overcoming his stage fright in acting, and regarding frequently being spotted in challenges by popular idol groups such as ILLIT and Tomorrow X Together, he said, 'Honestly, I never deliberately aimed for any of those. In fact, I sometimes just jump into dancing spontaneously and didn't even know it was being shown on screen; I was just dancing. But it became a topic. I'm just grateful people find my clumsy moves cute,' he laughed. He added that he uses the fan platform Bubble to express his gratitude for fans' unconditional love even more earnestly.
He has two films confirmed as his next projects and is even discussing the drama Finda's dog flower blooms in the palace. Kim Jaewon is considered part of the 2001-born trend lineup alongside popular 2000s-born actors such as Moon Sang Min and Lee Chae-min, referred to as the next-generation 'door guy' trend. Kim Jaewon said, 'Being called that feels like a response that I'm doing well in some sense, so I want to keep it going. I'll work twice as hard. I want to become an actor with my own charm. Rather than being a second version of someone else, I want to grow as an actor with my own unique charm,' he said.
Furthermore, he chose as the most pleasing review from Yumi's Cells 3 that 'Kim Jaewon fits rom-coms' and said, 'Responses that the rom-com genre and Kim Jaewon suit each other well or that people want to see works like this again made me happy. While I still like the label of a younger man, I was pleased that people saw me as an actor who fits this rom-com genre rather than just the character,' he said, expressing his desire to continue growing using Yumi's Cells 3 as a stepping stone.
[Photo] Provided by TVING.
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