"I starved for 8 days": "Gyeongseong Creature" Choi Young Joon Shares

On January 19, an interview was conducted with actor Choi Young Joon of the Netflix drama Gyeongseong Creature. The interview took place at a cafe in Seoul, where he shared his experiences and the story of losing 15kg (33 pounds) for his role. 

In the K-drama, Choi Young Joon plays the role of Lieutenant General Gato, a Japanese military officer who is one of the important figures at Ongseong Hospital. 

Talking about the drama, Choi Young Joon said, "I was looking forward to it a lot. I enjoyed it. I went to the preview, and it was fun because I watched it from a viewer's perspective without having seen the edited version."

The actor also shared that he lost 15kg/33 pounds to get that sharp image of Gato. He said, "I lived weighing 52kg / 125 pounds for ten months. I maintained it [the weight] throughout the shooting. I only ate on days when we were shooting. I ate lunch at the restaurant when shooting and starved at home. I lost about 15kg/33pounds  in total." 

The weight loss was at director Jung Dong Yoon's request. Choi Young Joon explained, "As soon as I came to Seoul after filming Our Blues, I went to the first shoot of Gyeongseong Creature the next day or the day after. At that time, I weighed about 72kg/158 pounds because I had deliberately gained weight. However, after the director saw the first edited version, he called me and said, 'It doesn't seem to match the image [of Gato] we have in mind.'"

He continued, "It was the Lunar New Year at that time. I thought if he [the director] has called on the holiday, it must be urgent. So, I didn't eat for 8 days from that day on. I usually lose weight like that. I don't eat, thinking I'll detox for 2 or 3 days. But since it was urgent, I starved for 8 days, and then I continued to lose weight steadily."

Commenting about acting in Japanese, he said, "I also [like other actors] didn't know Japanese, so I thought lightly of it, but then I realized that it was really difficult." "There were many difficult pronunciations." He continued, "At first, everyone tried to speak in Kyoto dialect, but we kept in mind that it [the drama] would go global."

Talking about the language lessons he took, he said, "When I received the script for episodes 1 to 6 in Jeju, I set up Zoom lessons [taking a] step-by-step [approach] from the beginning. I thought I spoke exactly as I heard it, but I was repeatedly pointed out. So, I got tired. I once told the teacher, 'I'm sorry, but I feel like I'm out of my mind. I'll run for 30 minutes and come back.' So, I rested for about 30 minutes and resumed the class. It was too difficult. It got to the point where I thought, 'I should never act in a foreign language again.'"

Talking about people's reactions to his transformation, Choi Young Joon shared, "People couldn't recognize me. There were many people who were like, 'Who is that actor?' I had to keep explaining." He added, "And I don't mind not being recognized. I still take the subway [which extremely popular celebrities cannot do so because they will attract a crowd]." "It's a convenient thing not to be [crazy] popular."

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