Actor Park Boyoung successfully completed her first genre project and succeeded in showing a new face.
Park Boyoung gave a series-ending interview for the Disney+ original series "Gold Land" (writer Hwang Jo-yoon, director Kim Sung-hoon) on the 28th at a cafe in Anguk-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
"Gold Land" is a gold-hued desire survival thriller in which Hee-ju (Park Boyoung), who obtained 150 billion won in gold bullion from a smuggling organization, fights to monopolize the gold amid an Asura: The City of Madness of greed and betrayal. Released on the 29th of last month, "Gold Land" ranked No. 1 in the Korea Disney+ top 10 TV shows category and captured public attention, and it concluded with episode 10 released on the 27th.
Park Boyoung, who plays Hee-ju in the drama, cleverly twisted and used her existing image to become an outstanding genre lead with both chill and depth. Amid developments swirling with complex human desire and desperation, Park Boyoung put both coolness and anguish into her character with her characteristic clear eyes, and she added weight to the character by using a low and dry tone appropriate to the situation. Having been loved by the public for warm and bright images through many works, Park Boyoung proved deeper acting prowess.
Taking on her first genre project, Park Boyoung said, "This kind of genre was new to me, so I had desire and curiosity, and when I read the script I tend to imagine myself in the character. I couldn't easily imagine "Gold Land" even when I read it, so I wondered what people saw that made them suggest me as Hee-ju. I couldn't easily imagine myself as Hee-ju, and having a female character at the center of a genre piece is not easy, so I was greedy for the opportunity because I didn't know when it would come. The line 'when someone who seems like they would return the gold bullion doesn't return it' was the decisive line that made me stop hesitating and decide," she recalled about choosing the project.
While Park Boyoung has mainly shown charming appeal until now, since "Concrete Utopia" she has been showing a "dark" side that could not be seen before while delivering social messages. She said, "In the past I chose romantic comedies because they were the most fun and things I could do well, but as time passed my range of what I could do widened and I felt I should try other things. At that time I was interested in works about people with hurting hearts or social issues, so I thought doing projects with a message might be meaningful. I think as an actor you naturally sometimes do works focused on fun and entertainment and sometimes works that deliver a message. In the early days I chose works that gave people enjoyment, and later the timing was such that I wanted to do works with artistic merit and social messages. I felt a lot of pride about that. The feedback you get after people see a work is different from when you gave people entertainment. I felt a different kind of pride, but then I thought, 'Do I have to give more messages? At this rate I'll be doing social activism,' so now I wonder if I've given enough and want to do bright works to give enjoyment," she said.
As it was her first genre project and a character she was newly tackling, she completed Hee-ju after intense deliberation. Park Boyoung said, "Because many actions are handled in stage directions, there were many things I had to imagine. I'm not very imaginative, so this opportunity increased my imagination a lot. The director sent many photos whenever he went scouting locations, which helped with imagination. Being new to the genre I wondered where and how far I should go, but that helped a lot. Although murder is off the table, there is a line in Woo-gi's dialogue that says 'selfish.' I thought that was a spoiler for Hee-ju's later change. I thought that to possess the gold bullion you'd have to get your hands bloody, but during filming there were processes where she survived by chance and got a lot of help, so I thought it made sense that Hee-ju would ultimately have to do it with her own hands. If Hee-ju decides to take it for herself and changes, I thought she must change," she said.
Park Boyoung, who lost about 3 kg and did most scenes without makeup, said, "There isn't a big difference compared with when I used to do dramas. It's about a 3 kg difference. I filmed while lacking energy. I felt like I was living in low-power mode. I didn't do unnecessary things, so the latter part was good. When trying to act as if you have strength while actually holding back, it shows, but because I had no energy it was good. At first I felt burdened about doing no-makeup scenes and wondered how to do them, but with less makeup time it was nice. Later, when I got dirty I felt at ease. The director said that because other people had many wounds and heavy makeup, my clean face looked boring. Later I even thought I could get dirtier, and it became fun to that extent," she said.
Park Boyoung's effort and transformation worked, and praise from global viewers followed. Park Boyoung said, "What I've always lacked confidence in is that when the director says 'cut' I rarely feel I did well. Still, when I watched the monitor I thought it wasn't bad and by my standards it was high. This time, because it was my first genre and I tried to approach it in a somewhat different way, I worked cautiously to see whether it was going well and whether Hee-ju looked like Park Boyoung. Kim Hie-won told me, 'You really looked like Hee-ju,' which gave me strength. What I wanted to show was to make the visuals look unlike me; even in the same scenes I tried to look different from comedy. The director said to start without makeup and then heavily soil the face. I wanted the unfamiliar look of a child with little strength but eyes that are alive, revealing desire and greed for the gold. Seeing that unfamiliar face on the monitor at least once was my goal. I haven't had many chances to do blood-splattered and sweat-drenched scenes, so I wanted to do as many as I could when I had the chance," she said.
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