With casual clothing, in a newly lit room, after the breakdown
electric that characterized the meeting with the director Kim Han Min, does his thing
entry to the 21st edition of the Korean Film Festival, the
award-winning actor Park Hae-il amidst the applause of those present.
Visibly excited, Park Hae-il breaks the deadlock and with a joke about darkness
in the room, he made his debut at the first Florentine masterclass.
I think the blackout is due to the director you just met, Kim Han Min, because he is too energetic. I remember that last year, in London, a similar thing happened with
the video.
The actor Park he knows the artistic director Kim well, who wanted him in the cast of
own films as protagonist and professional respect resonates in his words
towards the director.
The curator of the masterclass, Caterina Liverani, reconnecting with the director Kim
previously hosted, immediately asked the questions to the guest of honour
21st edition and the first curiosity was about his participation in the film
historian in the role of the Admiral Yin Sun-sin, the type of preparation for
the identification and sensations felt when wearing costumes from such an era
far away.
In Korea the figure of Admiral Yin Sun-sin is a figure highly respected by all the people. When director Kim called me to play the role of the Admiral I was very perplexed and surprised. I remember wondering if
I was able to interpret it. After much reflection, I accepted.
The artist also reveals that wearing period costume and armor was one thing for him
“door that allowed me to go from being a Park Hae-il person to being
character Yin Sun-sin. The stage costume helped me return to that era
historical, allowed me to feel that difficult period first hand and, strangely,
also the encouragement to fight.”
“Thanks to the Festival – he announced Park – I learned that the Museum can be visited
of the Armor, here in Florence. I'll follow the advice!”
The curator Liverans suggests describing the experience and type of approach
that actor Park had in filming “To muse-Eungyo”, a film where the character
principal was a 70-year-old elderly poet. For the filming of the film the poses for the
make up used to age him were numerous and long-lasting, around eight
hours. This commitment, however, contributed to giving prestige to the feature film so much so that
a cinematographic make-up section (Hallyu) was dedicated at the famous
Victoria Albert Museum in London where photograms of make up were exhibited in the
exhibition held last autumn.
In reality, I didn't want to take on this challenge either when the director Jung Ji-woo, with whom I had already worked on the film 'Modern boy', proposed this screenplay to me and advised me to read the original story taken from Park Bum Shin's novel. It is the story of this elderly poet who wishes to return to his youth, to rediscover the typical authorial energy.
The actor tells how director Jung revealed to him the need to undergo the
long sessions to try and fix the aging make-up afterwards.
“From a thirty-five year old I had to become a 70 year old – Park said –I'm one
I was a very curious person and I said 'ok let's do it'. From 12 hours of installation we succeeded
taking only eight hours and due to the complexity of the makeup the recordings were held
once every two days for skin health.”
The artist, increasingly at ease in front of an attentive audience, does not hold back
in narrating and sharing the memories of those days. Park recalls that during the
shooting of the film if at the beginning it was just acting, as it gradually gets closer to
character felt “a little depressed”.
“I remember – he stated Park – that for me it was more important to seek the soul of
character, his feeling. At a certain point in the film – recalled the artist – The
character says this line 'how your youth is not a prize given by your
commitment, my old age is not a punishment given by my sins'. In my opinion, age
it comes naturally, it's natural. The important thing is how you age. I know it is inside me
formed, grew up, this old man was born.”
Among the challenging roles played by the actor Park Hae-il, the curator Liverans
asks what were the difficulties faced in the role of the protagonist of
“Memories of murder”.
“That film, based on real events that happened in the 1980s, was what the director wanted to recreate
it was the atmosphere of those years, not so much focusing on my role, suspected of the
murders or innocent – he declared Park – yet from the public I have
received many questions asking me if I was the culprit. Well, of
The real culprit was caught recently and now I no longer receive these questions.
I believe – he confided Park – that the label of suspect remained attached to me
on me for a long time. It will certainly be due to the skill and talent of
director. Fortunately – concludes the actor, drawing a laugh from the room – then I am
moved on to detective roles.”
The meeting with the actor, who enchanted the public so much, is coming to an end. There
curator Liverans congratulates the artist in the interpretation of a Chinese in a
film that takes on an important meaning.
Park Hae-il, visibly excited, he lets out a fearful “I do not believe
Many people have seen it, right?” and then tells a nice anecdote that happened
during the filming of the film and the mastery of the director.
A few minutes after the greetings, a spectator gives the artist a portrait of himself
and made freehand. The actor Park, significantly moved by this unexpected gift, heartily thanked him and emotionally declared that he will wear it
“in a frame and will show it to the whole family.”
At the time of his farewell, the South Korean actor made his audience participate
how much the city of Florence taught him through the experience in a cellar
Tuscany, that is to say that:
if wine is better where it is well cultivated, produced and matured in its own environment, he too, as a person and actor, wants to develop a
a good way.
RoAnaSal