[Dispatch=Reporter Lee Ajin] "I couldn't bear to see another actor play Hoseok."

Actor Seol Kyung-gu unfolded his acting career with steady eyes and an unhurried tone. Sometimes mixing in laughter, sometimes seriously retracing the past. By any measure, he was a veteran actor with 30 years of career.

There was one moment when he particularly lit up. It was when he brought up Director Lee Chang-dong. As if returning to his early days as an actor, the excitement and passion of that time came through intact.

He described this director as "a big brother and like a mentor in film." The connection between the two began in the 1999 film "Peppermint Candy." It was the work that established Seol Kyung-gu as a film actor in the public eye.

After that, he met the director again through "Oasis" and the short film "Heart Sound" and "A Possible Love." Seol Kyung-gu made up his mind the moment he received the offer to appear. He was so desperate that he even moved up the filming schedule of another pre-planned project by two months.

"I had no thought other than that I must work with Director Lee Chang-dong. If I don't do it, another actor will. I didn't think I could bear that. Just the fact that my appearance was confirmed made everything satisfying."

Dispatch recently met with Seol Kyung-gu. We heard about his reunion with Director Lee Chang-dong and the process of completing "A Possible Love."

◆ "Even if I have to overdo it"

Seol Kyung-gu had long waited for a feature film project with Director Lee Chang-dong. The director had prepared several works in the meantime, but abandoned production because he wasn't satisfied himself. A project he was planning to do with Seol Kyung-gu also fell through.

"A Possible Love" is an expanded version of the story from "Heart Sound." Through two couples who have lived different lives, it examines love, loss, and the inner landscape of humanity.

He said, "The director said that after 'Heart Sound,' it didn't seem like he would tell this story again," and added, "Later, I told him that it doesn't have to be with me, so I hoped he would release any work at all."

Then in March of last year, the director offered him a role in a new feature film. The problem was the schedule. It overlapped with the filming period of Netflix's "Rodent."

But Seol Kyung-gu couldn't give up. He said, "I wasn't even curious about the movie content. In my own way, I desperately pushed it childishly to this director," and recalled, "I said I would somehow resolve the schedule and come."

However, moving up the filming completion date was an unreasonable request. After worrying day and night for several days, Seol Kyung-gu went to the "Rodent" production team. Fortunately, Director Kim Hong-seok and fellow actors like Ryu Jun-yeol understood his situation. Seol Kyung-gu emphasized several times how "grateful" he was to them.

"I knew I was being unreasonable. Still, I told them I had to do Director Lee Chang-dong's work. In the end, Director Kim Hong-seok said okay. I immediately called Director Lee Chang-dong and had the two of them speak. There was no way out.(laughs)"

◆ The changed set

For Seol Kyung-gu, the fact that he could work with Director Lee Chang-dong again was enough. He said, "I didn't request the script for over a month," and added, "The director even called me asking, 'Don't you care about the script?'"

Once he received the script, excitement and worry crossed over each other. It was an opportunity he had longed for, but memories of his past filming experience with this director came back. At that time, the set was a space where Seol Kyung-gu tested his limits every day.

"During 'Peppermint Candy,' I didn't know what to do in front of the camera. Every day I was given tasks beyond my ability. During 'Oasis,' I walked behind the director's back trying not to make eye contact with him. I felt like he might ask for something else. The weight I had to bear was that heavy."

But this time was different. Seol Kyung-gu had already built an understanding of this director over a long time both in front of and behind the camera. He already knew the director's directing style well. Seol Kyung-gu already knew the directing method this director pursues.

"The director doesn't demand much. 'Don't express. Don't act. Feel.' That's all. Acting when I know what the director wants is so much easier. The set was enjoyable. There was still pressure, but that was a separate matter from the enjoyment."

He also found change in this director. Seol Kyung-gu said, "During 'Oasis,' whenever I asked in the morning if he had slept, he never once said he had," and laughed, "This time he said he did sleep. That was really surprising."

◆ "I felt Hoseok"

Seol Kyung-gu's character Hoseok is a laid-off worker. He lost the job he had held for a long time and was betrayed by colleagues he trusted. He experienced loss that shook not only his livelihood but his very existence.

Rather than analyze the character, Seol Kyung-gu focused on immersing himself in the situation the character faced. "This director doesn't like coming in with predetermined information," he noted, and added, "I tried to understand the plight of a laid-off worker only to the extent that is generally known."

Hoseok is taciturn. It had the fewest lines of any role Seol Kyung-gu had taken on so far. As a result, he had to reveal his inner self through facial expressions and gestures alone. He interpreted the emotion that dominates Hoseok as closer to anger than sadness.

"For Hoseok, the betrayal of his colleagues probably hit harder than being laid off. They were people he thought of as family. It must have felt like his very soul was being stripped away. But since he couldn't express it in words, he fell into silence. As I immersed myself in the character that way, an angry face came out."

He also naturally expressed traits not written in the script. The scenes where Hoseok suddenly flares up are examples. Seol Kyung-gu said, "It seemed like Hoseok might have had violent tendencies in the past," and explained, "Now he's a character who relies on his wife and carries guilt, living by suppressing those tendencies."

There was also a scene where Hoseok's suppressed frustration burst out. It's the moment when he recalls a former colleague's birthday party in front of Yeji (played by Cho Yeo-jeong). Seol Kyung-gu didn't design the emotion in advance. He simply continued the story as if responding to an actual interview.

"I thought that if I calculated how to act, that itself becomes a distraction. I just did what came out naturally and what I felt. I tried my best not to do anything intentionally, but in the end I cried. When acting happens without intending to express something. We call this 'Lee Chang-dong Magic.'"

◆ The original heart of joy and sorrow

That deep immersion continued even after filming ended. Seol Kyung-gu shed tears at the Venice International Film Festival when "A Possible Love" premiered. Memories of the time spent at the Gochang filming location flashed through his mind as he watched the film.

Seol Kyung-gu said, "Later when I checked my diary, I realized it was exactly one year before our first shoot," and added, "The memories of that time passed like a carousel. Several emotions came rushing in all at once."

The performances of his fellow actors played a major role in completing all those scenes. Seol Kyung-gu said, "Especially Doyeon must have felt the greatest burden. Yet she made other actors shine too," and praised her, "After the first tech screening, I told her, 'I only see you.'"

When asked what "A Possible Love" meant to him, Seol Kyung-gu brought up the word "original heart." He missed his days as a newcomer when standing in front of the camera was clumsy, yet he poured all his effort into acting.

"While filming, I unknowingly returned to my original heart. This director's films aren't about great people coming out and delivering dramatic lines, right? I think I missed that kind of story. On the other hand, I think I wanted to feel the atmosphere of my newcomer days again."

Perhaps that's why. Though "A Possible Love" received acclaim both domestically and internationally, his representative work remains "Peppermint Candy."

"'Peppermint Candy' contains all my joy and sorrow. Even the guilt of not delivering what Director Lee Chang-dong wanted.(laughs) I don't think I'll ever experience all those emotions again in any other film. That's why my representative work will always be 'Peppermint Candy.'"

<Photo provided by Netflix>