Go Kyung-pyo, “After my mother passed away, my whole world collapsed… I gave up on many things”
Actor Go Kyung-pyo talked about the efforts he made to act in the movie “6/45”, such as gaining weight, and the story of how his view on life changed.
Go Kyung-pyo revealed various stories related to the movie “6/45” (directed by Park Kyu-tae) in an interview held at a cafe in Palpan-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul in the morning of August 12th.
“6/45” depicts a comical encounter between South and North Korean soldiers over the 5.7 billion won lottery that crossed the Military Demarcation Line on the wind. Go Kyung-pyo played the role of South Korean sergeant Chun-woo. One day, Chun-woo, the former sergeant of the South Korean front guard post GP who continues his boring military life by counting the remaining days of his discharge, won a 5.7 billion won lottery, and he makes an unpredictable tearful effort to regain the lottery that crossed the Military Demarcation Line to the North for his dream life after discharge.
In the interview, Go Kyung-pyo revealed the process of him participating in “6/45”, saying “The movie material about ‘lottery’ sounded interesting to me. From the point of view of the audience, it will not be easy to predict the flow of the story. I joined the team because I thought the process of the characters overcoming the hardships that get bigger and need to be sorted out was really fun.”
He continued, “At first, I didn’t know the meaning of ‘6/45’. Later I found the word ‘6/45’ written on the top of the lottery. This part was very detailed. When North Koreans saw it, they thought the name when they read the numbers as they were written was very ingenious. When North Koreans see it, they would find the number amazing when they read it as it was written.”
When asked, “Did you buy a lottery after filming the movie?”, the actor said, “I don’t often buy lottery. After this work, I actually received lotteries at an event. I had about two, but lost them all”, adding “What if I actually won the lottery?”, drawing laughter.
When asked, “Do you believe in the luck of making a big fortune at one stroke?”, Go Kyung-pyo said, “I wish I can experience it. I want to get an unearned income. But I’m actually not that materialistic”, laughing once again because of his own random answer that made him tilt his head. When the reporter asked, “Why does your answer so inconsistent?”, he cheerfully said, “I don’t think people can live consistently all the time”, creating a friendly atmosphere.
Explaining his character Chun-woo, Go Kyung-pyo said, “Although Chun-woo is also a person who tends to make dangerous choices, I hope his greed and focus on the lottery would be revealed clearly in the movie. And I think that’s the power that Chun-woo needed to lead the story”. He continued, “This friend desperately wants that lottery and when 5.7 billion won in his hands fly away, he needs such energy to fill his frustration. In addition, Chun-woo will appear as a person who loves animals. I think a person who loves animals can’t be bad so I paid attention to that part of my character.”
Go Kyung-pyo also told the story of him gaining weight to portray his character.
He said, “In the past, people used to call soldiers ‘uncles (old men)’, but aren’t they more like ‘soldier oppas’ nowadays? Since they’re quite young. I wanted to express the innocence of the new generation in society. I wanted to look chubby so I gained some weight.”
He continued, “I gained weight by eating a lot of chicken and pizza. I think I weighed up to 89kg. It was not easy to diet after then”. When the reporter said, “‘Go Kyung-pyo’s diet memes’ are very famous online”, the actor shook his head and said, “I know. Since the memes became famous, people reacted like ‘Go Kyung-pyo loses weight very easily’… Everyone makes efforts and endures pain to lose that much weight. It’s hard for me, too”.
“I exercise, practice martial arts, and swim a lot. I also walk around Han River quite often”, the actor said. He continued, “When I lose weight, I don’t eat late-night snacks and drink alcohol. Now that I’m used to dieting to some extent, I want to maintain this state. From now on, I want to play characters that don’t require me to gain weight”.
Revealing that he’s serious about food, Go Kyung-pyo smiled and said, “In fact, I’m not greedy about other things, but I try not to be thrifty when it comes to eating. I always want to eat the most delicious food and I can even go all the way to Daejeon to just eat naengmyeon. I like everything except for cilantro, cucumber, and seafood.”
Go Kyung-pyo, who enlisted in the military in May 2018 and got discharged in January 2020, recalled his military life and added more details to the expression of his character.
He said, “I went to the army when I was a little older than others, and I tried to relieve the cold atmosphere by talking more with the friends who looked more like older brothers than the others”, adding “In fact, the scene where I was lying down in the barrack and holding the remote control was also what I did when I was in the military.”
Showing his special affection for comedy acting, Go Kyung-pyo said, “I learned many things while doing ‘SNL Korea’ with director Jang Jin. What I learned at that time also helped me act in ‘6/45’. I don’t think I should try to be funny, but I just need to be sincere and immersed in a situation to get the emotions of a comedy and to enjoy the funny points.”
“When I was younger, I actually didn’t like comedies”, he revealed. The actor continued, “When I was young, I always thought about how to look cool, but when I did comedies, I found the reactions of the audience when they laughed so great”, adding “When I designed the scenes that could make people laugh while filming ‘Horror Stories’ with director Jung Beom-sik, and saw the audiences laugh in the theaters, I realized that comedy is attractive but difficult at the same time”.
Go Kyung-pyo, who debuted in “Jungle Fish 2” in 2010, has proved his wide acting spectrum and built a solid filmography by starring in various works, such as dramas “Reply 1988” (2015), “Jealousy Incarnate” (2016), “Chicago Typewriter” (2017), “Strongest Deliveryman” (2017), “Cross” (2018) and movies “The Admiral: Roaring Currents” (2014), “Coin Locker Girl” (2015) and “Seven Years of Night” (2018). In addition, he also appeared in the movie “Decision to Leave”, which was released in June this year.
Above all, Netflix’s original movie “Seoul Vibe” has been scheduled to be released on August 26th and the upcoming drama “Love in Contract” is also set to air in the second half of this year on tvN, heralding Go Kyung-pyo’s nonstop acting activities.
When the reporter said, “You look more relaxed when doing activities after completing military service”, the actor carefully brought up the story of his mother, who passed away in September 2020.
Go Kyung-pyo said, “I joined the army when my mother was fighting against a disease, so I enlisted with a depressed heart. However, my teammates were considerate of me, so I relied on them while living in the military”, adding “After my mother passed away, I gave up on many things. After experiencing what I feared the most in life and carefully thinking about the big thing in my life, I told myself, ‘Life is short and it passes really fast, so what am I supposed to do with these heavy thoughts? Is this something hard?’.”
He calmly confessed, “Since my mother’s death, I have lowered my attitudes toward life. My mother was my world, but she’s gone. I don’t know if I can say this, but I thought all my family members were dead at that time and I had to start all over again and form new relationships. After then, I don’t feel tired even when facing a hard time”.
Go Kyung-pyo also revealed his belief, saying “At some point, I really thought ‘Should I continue to play the leading roles?’. It is because I want to play different characters, and I want to be an actor, not just a main character actor.”
He shared, “Letting go of my the thought that I should only play the lead roles, these times when I laugh and chat with people whom I act together with have become more important and precious to me”, adding, “I think it’s about sharing our lives with each other while working on the same work. That’s my life again, and I hope I can pile up such feelings well. That’s why I really like to appear as a supporting actor, and I like making special appearances. I don’t care about anything. I’m satisfied because I think I’m going in line with the goal of becoming ‘an actor with a wide acting spectrum’. The viewers liked it, too”, showing his pure passion for acting.
“6/45” will be released on August 24th.
