JHJ on work and women
wulijohyunjae | November 2, 2009 | 7:00 am
The following is an interview in the Japanese Magazine Kanpooh (Sept. 2006)) — Special Edition on Korean actors.
Jo Hyun-Jae, who rose to fame in “Untold Scandal” and “Love Letter” and gained a wide following in Japan, talks about his work and his views on women.
Q. Is there any actor who is a role model for you?
A. No one actor in particular. But I hope my performance would qualify me to be considered a serious actor. This is the most important thing to me at the moment.
Q. Some reports say you respect Lee Byung-Hyun a lot.
A. Yes, I like him very much.
Q. What is it about him that you like?
A. I especially admire his superb acting skills.
Q. How many times have you been to Japan? What is your impression of Japan?
A. This is my 6th visit. Japan impresses me as a very beautiful country. And everybody has fine sense of trends.
Q. What do you plan to do this time?
A. This time I’d like more time to rest, but there are so many interviews I don’t have time to go out. Still, I bought some clothes in Shibuya; they’re now at the hotel.
Q. How do you spend your leisure time?
A. Recently I like driving around, also hiking. Before I used to like swimming and roller skating. Now I jog quite a lot.
Q. Are there any Japanese actresses that you particularly like?
A. Not really. I only remember Miho Nakayama ( 中山美穗 ) in “Love Letter”. (Editor: the 1995 Japanese movie “Love Letter”)
Q. Would you like to break into the Japanese entertainment scene?
A. Of course, if the opportunity arises. I have just finished filming the historical drama “Seo Dong Yo”; next I would like to do a contemporary drama.
Q. Are you good at love scenes?
A. Yes. (Laughs.)
Q. What kind of women do you like?
A. Women who have cheerful disposition, those whom you’re comfortable with when you see them.
And then when JHJ was asked to give an example from the actresses that he has worked with, he smiled shyly and said there’s no one actress that he could name as an example.
Q. Which one of your dramas left the deepest impression?
A. “Love Letter” — this is the first drama in which I had a starring role, the first time I threw myself completely into a role. Because this was the first time I played lead, I felt absolutely remarkable. I also learnt a lot from this experience.
Q. You mostly play pure, respectful characters. Are you like that too?
A. I’ve played a lot of good characters. I try to learn from them in playing the roles.
Q. In “Untold Scandal” and “Love Letter”, you play opposite Lee Mi-Sook and Soo-Ai respectively. Do you get along better with the older actresses or the younger ones?
A. This has nothing to do with age. I pay more attention to communication. Thank you.
(Translated from the Chinese version on www.johyunae.hk. Thank you, Scarecrow and Bigcat!)
(Credit: Photos from www.kanpooh.com)
JHJ’s “Love Letter” is just as memorable as the Japanese movie of the same name, although they are very different. Is it a coincidence that he likes the Japanese actress in that movie?
I love his answer to the last question. it shows us that he is more into what goes on inside a person’s head/heart than what goes on on the surface. he truly is a very deep-thinking person for someone so young.