Kim Ji-hoon of “Money Heist”: “The shocking bed scene with Lee Joo-bin, we cheered each other up”
Kim Ji-hoon joined an exclusive interview regarding his appearance in Netflix’s “Money Heist: Joint Economic Area.”
※ SPOILER ALERT
The Netflix series “Money Heist: Joint Economic Area” (hereinafter referred to as “Money Heist”) released on June 24th depicts an unprecedented hostage robbery by genius strategists and robbers with different personalities and abilities against the backdrop of the Korean Peninsula ahead of unification.
Actor Kim Ji-hoon played the role of Denver, the son of Moscow (Lee Won-jong), a former street fighter who has been through quite a lot in the illegal battleground.
Denver seems to be simply an ignorant and angry character, but Kim Ji-hoon has created a solid character of Denver, who also has a kind heart inside. In particular, his romance with Mi-sun (Lee Joo-bin) captivated viewers of “Money Heist.”
– Many responded that your laughter was the same as the original Denver. What part of the original Denver did you want to bring into the remake, while what part did you want to make different for the Korean version of Denver?
▲ I had definitely got rid of the idea of following the original. As soon as I saw the script, I thought it was right to change. But one absolutely unmissable thing was his sound of laughter. Denver’s laughter was the same signature as Denver’s character identity. If I threw away his laughter to make my own character while remaking it, I felt like the link on the connection line would be broken. For the original fans, they thought it would be a shame if I didn’t keep that part from the original. I kept in mind that I have to keep that part from the original. I think the Korean version of Denver is a little more appealing to women. He loves like a wildflower in the fields amid this tense, sweaty mint. He has a pure heart and appears like a black knight when Mi-sun is in crisis, so I thought he could appeal to women a little more.
– Denver was a character with many things to care about, including his dialect, action, and body exposure
▲ Denver is a street fighter. I expected a lot of action scenes, so I practiced boxing and Muay Thai a long time before filming began. I exercised a lot because I thought I needed to learn the feeling of martial arts in advance. But there weren’t as many action scenes as I thought. I thought there would be body-revealing scenes as well because I heard about the bed scene. At first, the director said, “Take off everything. We are filming a shocking bed scene,’ and I thought I should prepare without any shortage, and I cannot be shy. So I went on a serious diet. During the shoot, the gym was closed due to the pandemic, so I started exercising with the iron bar in front of my house. My hairstyle is also different from the original, but if you watch the drama, you will see how I pay attention to the details. Before entering the Mint, his hair was let down but he tied up his long hair later because it is annoying to do activities in the Mint. Denver has a lot of movement, so I portrayed him with details such as scratching or sticking out according to the situation. Personally, I paid a lot of attention to the dialect. I didn’t have much sense of dialect because I am a Seoul native. When I hear the dialect, I can distinguish which is Jeolla-do, Gyeongsang-do, and Chungcheong-do. I thought the Seoul tongue was not enough to express Denver’s simple, ignorant, and hot-tempered appearance. I’m sure there was a perception that the viewers had in advance as they had shown before. I thought the dialect was efficient to express this character beyond that. To speak dialect perfectly, I invested time with my dialect teacher three months before filming as if I were going to a foreign language tutoring academy. If you look at my script, it is almost like a graph chart. It’s an intonation graph. The dialect of Gyeongsang-do is so variable that it is hard to be predicted by Seoulites. I marked the lines with arrows in every accent and worked hard until I got accepted by the teacher. In addition, my dialect teacher is a standard dialect speaker, but Denver needs to look a little rougher, so I went to another teacher who speaks a rougher dialect and learned it from both of them. (Laughter)
– How much weight did you lose for this role?
▲ I don’t usually weigh a lot, but I kept my body fat at around 7 to 8% rather than checking the weight number. Everyone’s usual body fat is around 11 to 12%.
– You still have long hair, but was it hard to take care of?
▲ Denver’s hairstyle here is different from the original. I thought about it and discussed it with the director, and he said, “Let’s do it.” The director also said that since it will be shown globally, it will be an opportunity to inform overseas viewers that there is an actor with long hair in Korea, and how attractive he can be. I think it was a good choice after looking at the result. It is not necessary to differentiate my Denver from the original Denver, but we seem to have become a little different because of the hairstyle. I got used to it because I have been growing it for about 3 years, but it is definitely hot in summer. It’s hot as if you’re wearing a scarf just by putting your hair down, but I think it’s great how women still look so cool and fresh with their long hair down (laughs)
– Misun and Denver’s love line were the talk of the town. How did you get along with Lee Joo-bin and how did you express Denver, who is starting to care about Mi-sun?
▲ I started with the pressure of “We will have to film a bed scene later” with Joo-bin in advance. That’s why I decided to be on the show. From the standpoint of those who are suffering the same pain, he sees it as a comradeship or something like that. Before the start of the work, we met in advance and talked about this and that, and we cheered each other up to do well. Denver seems to have fallen for Mi-sun immediately. At first, Denver was nice and took good care of her because Misun was pretty, so I think it was natural for her to want to be nice even though she was a hostage. Since then, after being shot with a gun, his heart seems to have realized. Rather than caring about her more and more as time passes by, he seems to have fallen for her at once.
– Were you satisfied with the footage and angle of the bed scene?
▲ I just filmed it like crazy without anything on my mind. I’ve been acting for a long time, but I’ve never seen such a full-fledged bed scene, and neither has actress Lee Joo-bin. All we could do was just concentrate and do our best. The shoot ended faster than I thought. However, I couldn’t monitor the bed scene again on the set. (Laughing) I couldn’t ask them to show me again, so I was very curious about how it would come out. I was really embarrassed when I saw it. I don’t know how the viewers felt about it.
– The response to Denver and Mi-sun’s romantic story is hot. Did you expect that?
▲ Honestly, I didn’t expect it. I didn’t expect you to be this enthusiastic about Mi-sun and Denver’s romance because it’s not a time for them to date leisurely. Thank you for your love and I’m experiencing such a hot response.
– How did you interpret Denver and what kind of person did you want to express him as while acting? Is there anything that you can relate to and sympathize with your character?
▲ The Denver character itself was not a character with complex psychology, and could be approached simply. Rather, I thought I might be interrupted if I thought too much about it. I just approached this role without thinking deeply. Denver is a nice kid, but when his father sees him, he receives nothing but nagging. He keeps causing trouble without even realizing it. However, I wanted to express my basic belief in what is right and wrong with the right character. Actually, I’m a complicated person, but when facing injustice, I think we are quite similar that we both can’t stand seeing it.
– Is there any description that you want to get thorugh the role Denver?
▲ I wanted to hear from people who have always loved me, “So actor Kim Ji-hoon also has this kind of image.” In the past, they seemed to recognize me as someone who fits with refined roles such as chief and lawyer. I wanted to turn that idea upside down.
– Is there any scene where you had a hard time due to acting or external factors? What’s your favorite scene?
▲ My favorite scene is the scene where my father runs out of the mint and we hug on the floor. Even while monitoring again, I can’t help but feel frustrated and said “I didn’t kill you.” I think it looked funny. There is a scene where the laser scratched my father’s face. I didn’t realize I did that while filming, but personally, I was impressed and liked that scene. The scene that I filmed with difficulty was in front of the Mint. It was so hot that it was hard to wear a mask on the jumpsuit. When I act, my body usually heats up and I sweat, but because of the mask, my breathing is uncomfortable and my vision is limited. I had to act with discomfort.
– Other than Denver, if there’s any character that you think is the most attractive or you want to try acting in?
▲ It’s Berlin. I immediately became an audience whenever I saw actor Park Hae-soo’s acting on the set. Although we were acting together, when I focused on actor Park Hae-soo, I often looked like an audience at the theater stage. There were many times when I was amazed by him during the monitor. Personally, I don’t want to play another character because I like Denver in this work.
– What should we look forward to in part 2?
▲ I can confidently say that Denver in Part 2 is much cooler than in Part 1 (laughs) It will be interesting to see how his love will grow. Denver has a lot to express in many ways. The story accumulated in part 1 will reach its peak in part 2, while the speed and the high concentration of the story will increase. In the process, Denver is also likely to actively intervene and show many impressive aspects.
Sourcce: nate
