Kim Hyun Joong… [article] STAR ACTOR

By: LazerKim                         I have written several articles about Kim Hyun Joong that talks about Hyun Joong being an actor which had been gaining demands for him to work on another drama. And which I think it’s high time for him to do so, but then again this depends on Hyun Joong’s schedule and it all depends on him too. Yesterday, a news write up came out, actually it’s a cut from Hyun Joong’s documentary and the title of it is “Kim Hyun Joong Expresses Disinterest in Acting”. The title was a bit misleading though, but the write up was just the cut from Hyun Joong’s documentary as it was translated to English.

As I was reading the translation, I can’t help but feel even proud of Hyun Joong, because of his honesty. As he stated:

“To be honest, and I’m sorry to all the sunbaes or people studying acting now, but I started out with absolutely no interest in acting. That’s probably why there were so many criticism on my acting in the early part of my career.”

How many actors with the same star status as Hyun Joong, would openly admit to the fact that he can not act or he was not good in acting in the past as he was just starting. But to Hyun Joong since Boys Over Flower was his first acting project, I wouldn’t say he was just lucky that the drama came out to be a huge hit.

No mam, Hyun Joong worked hard on that drama, as I have written in my article Pink Health, his health even deteriorated due to over work. Hyun Joong worked his guts out since it’s his first acting project, he doesn’t have any experience in acting and so he did double time with his effort. And that effort paid off as it was a successful drama that gained Hyun Joong a remarkable public acceptance and popularity boost.

In the documentary this was stated:

Song Byung Joon, the director of Kim Hyun Joong’s two main dramas, “Boys over Flowers” and “Playful Kiss,” added, “His (Kim Hyun Joong) reading was literally just ‘reading’ the script. He read it like elementary school students reading their textbooks in class. At first the scriptwriter was frustrated. So we talked about it and I told the scriptwriter that since Kim Hyun Joong does not know what a ‘script reading’ session is, let’s try and wait to pull out his potential.”

The guy has to start from somewhere, and it just so happen that his start was this project Boys Over Flower. Hyun Joong had no experience in acting, but the producer of BOF knows this from day one. But as a producer he can not eliminate the fact that Hyun Joong has an excellent potential in becoming a mega star. And the producer was right in his assessment of Hyun Joong back in 2009.

Speaking of reality, in showbiz what you see first hand or physical beauty is important, and the rest can follow through development. What do I mean by this? Producers in the showbiz industry, prioritized in searching for beautiful faces, and so with artist’s agents too. Rule number one, there has to be beauty, appeal and personality. Talent can be acquired through training, and that’s the role of an agent in providing proper training to their managing artists as I wrote in my article Artist’s Agent.

Hyun Joong is a good example pertaining to showbiz rules. He has a natural beauty, handsome face, tall height, a well proportioned outlook and a good personality. He is a singer and dancer, but back in time he does not have experience in acting. Which he admitted, and knowing the guy he will not pretend to be someone he’s not, and so he underwent rigid acting training. As it was stated, at first during the script reading session he reads as if just reading a text-book. But as the ball started rolling, little by little Hyun Joong acquired the talent in acting.

Even veteran actors, when they started as an actor, they were not as good as they are at present. They too underwent acting workshop and training. And so this is not something new, it’s just that Hyun Joong is very vocal and honest about his acting ability, but he takes the initiative to learn and improve himself. That until at present, he is actively attending his session with his acting coach.

Honestly, when I watched BOF I never thought it was Hyun Joong’s first acting project ever. The more I was impressed with Hyun Joong because it is even challenging to portray Yoon Ji Hoo’s role which is showing emotion than delivering lines. Everyone has to start from somewhere, good or not so good in acting, or any talent for that matter, eventually it will develop in time. Why else do we have professional talent coaches, if they can not execute their profession as teachers to artists? Producers and agents knows this quite well that talent can be developed. >>   This was stated in Hyun Joong’s documentary:

Yang Yoon Ho, the producer of “Iris,” also said “Of course I love Kim Hyun Joong, but the reason we bet on him is pretty clear. He has huge potential to become a mega star and he really takes good care of himself. His popularity now puts no pressure on him and he’s able to control everything. Even if his popularity grows, he seems like a person who will be able to handle it.”

This is another thing, that no matter how Hyun Joong gained his popularity, his feet remain  firmly on the ground, with no air of arrogance, swell headed, whatsoever, he was able to maintain himself as humble as ever. Back in time, Hyun Joong knew what was lacking in him. But Hyun Joong is a very responsible type of artist that once he accepts an offer, he is totally committed to it and will work hard to improve himself.

Hyun Joong was criticized in his lack of ability to act in his drama projects BOF and Playful Kiss. But where did these two dramas took him? The more he was criticized the more his popularity rise up!! Or they may say it’s because of his co-actors in the drama that made a hit. Maybe, just for the sake of argument, but Hyun Joong’s popularity gained even more out of the dramas he worked on, and this is a fact that can not be denied. His popularity just kept growing no matter what he does. This was stated in his documentary:

But Kim Hyun Joong been able to significantly improve his acting over the years and is now considered one of the very few idol stars with the star power to single-handedly lead a TV show.

There was a news from US yesterday which was shared by one of my readers about Playful Kiss, this is just a short briefer of the news as stated:

[News Article]    How Korean TV drama ‘Playful Kiss’ flopped locally but hit globally.

Through global TV streaming service Viki, Playful Kiss has become somewhat of a worldwide sensation, garnering a loyal audience of nearly 7 million viewers and more than recouping a modest production spend of under $1 million several million dollars to make 16 episodes.

This news is another fact, the drama Playful Kiss was filmed and aired in 2010, although it suffered a low rating in S.Korea, but it is currently a huge hit worldwide. There’s a similar news pertaining the drama Playful Kiss at CNN as Hyun Joong was featured for an interview back in November 2010. As Hyun Joong stated that he wasn’t expecting the US Europe and Latin America would watch Playful Kiss and hoping to continue supporting him on his other projects. And so his fans outside Asia responded as Hyun Joong plans his world tour in September this year.

I can still remember Hyun Joong said in one of his interviews, “If one door of opportunity closes, another door will open with better result”. Playful may not have brought a good result back in his home country, but brought a global hit instead, which is much bigger!! Hyun Joong may not be expecting anything huge from his acting career, he was simply doing his job with all his heart. Whatever is lacking in his ability, he works hard for it to improve. And all those hard work paid off more than what he was expecting.

He doesn’t stop, he just keeps going and learning. And before you know it, a Star Actor name Kim Hyun Joong is just in front of you totally renewed.

                                                                                                     LazerKim here writing                                      

 Photo credit as tagged, no tag Bliz thanks.