It’s pretty risky to become a celebrity in Korea. Of course there are times when there will be celebrity scandals, but looking all around the world, I don’t think that there is any other place that delves so much into a star’s personal life and criticizes it so much that one small mistake could follow and hinder a celebrity’s reputation forever. Of course it’s the same in other countries, they have paparazzi and people who do this type of thing for a living, but in Korea, everyone, and anyone, can get involved via the Internet. So, the mid-20’s top star, the star that is so big that even CNN’s “Talk Asia” interviewed him; how does he perceive what his “job” as a star is and how does he go through his own life? I decided to pry him away from the tiny amount of rest time he surely could have used, in order to get answers to these questions.
Time: October 10, 2005 Midnight ~ 1AM
Place: Party after his Hong Kong Concert.
L: I’ll start with some promotional questions. ^^ While the major foreign interest is of “Rain the singer”, the home interest in Korea right now is in “Ji Hun Jeong the actor” in “Love of This Damned Man”(LTDM). Please tell me how you’re feeling about this project.
J: The LTDM project… it’s about an extreme type of love. It’s about…there’s an older brother who has a woman, and this woman is really in love with this brother. His parents force them to break up and misunderstandings begin to arise; for the both of them. The woman still loves the brother; the brother still loves the woman; then the brother falls into a coma and becomes a vegetable. The story is about getting revenge… and I believe that this character will not be showing anything of my true self at all. There will be people, who will enjoy it, and there will be people who won’t enjoy it, depending on their opinions, but it is a character that I have the utmost confidence in carrying off.
L: One fun thing to point out is that, in “Full House” you played a popular celebrity, while you were a popular celebrity yourself…you might say that that was a major part of making the project itself; the same as it was with “Sang Doo, Let’s Go to School”, and while you were approached with the similar, 2nd generation, wealthy son type role, and there were complicating events, you refused it to take on the character of the rough, street fighter. This isn’t a “normal” type of choice, so what do you look for and how do you, Ji Hun, come to decide upon a project?
J: I don’t ever want to work on something solely for monetary reasons. It’s unfortunate that sometimes things just happen to work out in that direction, but I started this because I wanted to act, and later if I happen to film a movie, I don’t want to work on one that is just about the money. I just want to work on things that make me happy, things that make my supporters think, “Ah, Rain has grown in ability enough to act at that level,” projects like that…I can show star quality as a singer and in other ways. CF’s…money isn’t a priority to me right now. It has more to do with self pride now. Self-confidence. That’s what it is. If a project let’s me be true to those things, that’s all that matters.
Time: October 10, 2005 Midnight ~ 1AM
Place: Party after his Hong Kong Concert.
L: I’ll start with some promotional questions. ^^ While the major foreign interest is of “Rain the singer”, the home interest in Korea right now is in “Ji Hun Jeong the actor” in “Love of This Damned Man”(LTDM). Please tell me how you’re feeling about this project.
J: The LTDM project… it’s about an extreme type of love. It’s about…there’s an older brother who has a woman, and this woman is really in love with this brother. His parents force them to break up and misunderstandings begin to arise; for the both of them. The woman still loves the brother; the brother still loves the woman; then the brother falls into a coma and becomes a vegetable. The story is about getting revenge… and I believe that this character will not be showing anything of my true self at all. There will be people, who will enjoy it, and there will be people who won’t enjoy it, depending on their opinions, but it is a character that I have the utmost confidence in carrying off.
L: One fun thing to point out is that, in “Full House” you played a popular celebrity, while you were a popular celebrity yourself…you might say that that was a major part of making the project itself; the same as it was with “Sang Doo, Let’s Go to School”, and while you were approached with the similar, 2nd generation, wealthy son type role, and there were complicating events, you refused it to take on the character of the rough, street fighter. This isn’t a “normal” type of choice, so what do you look for and how do you, Ji Hun, come to decide upon a project?
J: I don’t ever want to work on something solely for monetary reasons. It’s unfortunate that sometimes things just happen to work out in that direction, but I started this because I wanted to act, and later if I happen to film a movie, I don’t want to work on one that is just about the money. I just want to work on things that make me happy, things that make my supporters think, “Ah, Rain has grown in ability enough to act at that level,” projects like that…I can show star quality as a singer and in other ways. CF’s…money isn’t a priority to me right now. It has more to do with self pride now. Self-confidence. That’s what it is. If a project let’s me be true to those things, that’s all that matters.