Kim Joo Heon, who played the villain in the recently wrapped-up drama “Big Mouth,” has opened up about his character’s rushed death in the drama and more in an interview.
The MBC drama “Big Mouth,” which ended on September 17, received a lot of love with a high viewer rating of 13.7% (National Standard for Nielsen Korea), but it was also a work that was criticized by viewers for its disappointing ending.
NOTE: spoilers ahead of the drama
This is because Choi Do Ha, the “villain” character who released radioactive wastewater for decades and caused many people to suffer, was once again elected mayor without any legal punishment. Of course, he died in the radioactive wastewater pool that he released, but there were many disappointed viewers who said that it was a messy and rushed ending.
Kim Joo Heon said,
I understand the reaction regarding the villain dying so easily. In a way, it’s more realistic. I want (bad people) to pay for their crimes in my life, but I sometimes see them leave more comfortably.”
He then confessed that he felt lonely watching Choi Do Ha’s evil deeds in the second half of the drama, he explained,
When it was aired, I laughed a lot while looking for real-time comments. The reactions (cursing Choi Do Ha) were funny. I forgot that it was quite a while after filming, but there were times when I felt catharsis while watching the broadcast.
But I was a little lonely in episodes 15 and 16. I didn’t know when I was filming, but I felt it when I saw it on the screen. All the scenes where Choi Do Ha’s evil deeds got revealed were fine, but I felt a little lonely when I watched the last episode. Other actors posted the pictures they took together on SNS because it was their last broadcast, but I couldn’t. I wanted to leave a little lingering impression when I posted the last post (September 19). It was a post that meant you could curse my character as much as you want.”
“Big Mouth,” tells the story of a third-rated lawyer caught in a murder case he happened to take charge of, digging into the true face of a privileged class marred by a huge conspiracy. In the drama, Kim Joo Heon played Choi Do Ha, a former prosecutor-turned-mayor of Gucheon.
Until the middle of the drama, Choi Do Ha was a character that viewers could not understand. He seemed like a good person who helped Park Chang Ho (played by Lee Jong Suk), who was in trouble, but also looked like a “Big Mouse” who controlled everything from behind. Eventually, it was revealed that Choi Do Ha was also a bereaved family of a victim of his grandfather who was killed by Chairman Kang (played by Jeon Gook Hwan) while trying to reveal the truth from the past.
Kim Joo Heon confessed that it was not easy to act because he (Choi Do Ha) had a lot of secrets. He explained,
I can hide my feelings, whether it’s real or fake. But it’s harder when I don’t know what kind of emotions I have and how this scene will be used (in the second half of the drama).
When I tried to act through my eyes, there were times when the director directed me like, ‘Why don’t you get try wiping out the emotions a little bit ?’ I don’t think it was easy because the script wasn’t all out until the last episode, and the relationship between the characters was gradually created while filming.
So I tried to solve this problem a lot by thinking of images. Of course, images are not everything that completes the character, but they are helpful. When acting in a comedy, thinking about the image of a deer hopping and putting this image over the speed or actions while speaking the lines draws similar results as the image. I tried to show Choi Do Ha as slow an image as possible. I wanted to look relaxed and had to contrast with Gong Ji Hoon (played by Yang Kyung Won). In the beginning, I rather thought (Choi Do Ha) should not stand out. There will definitely be a moment when you’re like a leaf on the surface and bounce off. I tried to hold it in as much as I could. I have a lot of hand gestures, but it was hard to hold it in (laughs).”
Kim Joo Heon, who played the villain Choi Do Ha, gained about 10kg and then tried to lose weight again. He said,
In the beginning, I thought Choi Do Ha’s body should be a little big. So I gained up to 82kg. From the end of the filming of my previous work, ‘Now, We Are Breaking Up,’ I did high-weight exercises and ate a lot.”
At the same time, he lost about 10kg in the scene where he died in the swimming pool. He said,
“As we go to the second half, Choi Do Ha is in a tight spot. On the surface, he seems to have won the game, but how could he not have been stressed? Could he sleep comfortably? I lost weight because I thought he would have lost it.”
He then revealed that there were hints for viewers that could not be said in the last scene. He revealed,
When I filmed the swimming pool scene at the end, I purposely went into the water and opened my eyes. Although it shows that he was exposed to radiation while vomiting blood when he died, he has already been exposed since the moment he got in the pool. I tried to show you that there was a blood clot in my eye. like a pre-symptom, I filmed that scene without applying anything to my lips. In the eyes of viewers, even if it was a sudden death, I wanted to show such small symptoms.”
Lastly, Kim Joo Heon said that he was burdened even before filming “Big Mouth,” and that he wanted to be an actor who always showed a different appearance. He shared,
“(Before filming this work), I was burdened because I was playing the villain which is a big role. There was also a “Question mark” about myself (when I went home after filming), and I thought a lot about ‘did I play the role well?’ and ‘What if I tried to act this way?’ I always got good ideas when I got back home.
Acting is always a matter of choice, and when you act like this, it’s a matter of how you connect and continue to the next scene. I try to show you as many things as possible. I’m not sure how long I can be an actor, but acting is my biggest interest and driving force in life. I always want to be an unfamiliar actor. I hope the acting I show will be different every time, and even if I’m not a great actor in every work, I will be happy just by hearing, ‘That actor, he was the best in that work.’ I think that’s the biggest thing for me right now.”
What did you think of Kim Joo Heon’s performance in Big mouth?
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