Jo Hyun Jae

This is from that Japanese magazine on Korean historical drama that we featured in our 2010.3.5 post “SDY in historical drama magazine”, 2010.3.18 post “Director Lee talks about JHJ”, and 2010.3.22 post “JHJ in historical drama magazine” under Category: JHJ magazine.

In the dramas that I have directed, the male lead is invariably played by an actor over 30 years of age — Ji Jin-Hee in “Jewel in the palace”(Dae Jang Geum), Jun Kwang-Ryul in “The legendary doctor Huh Joon”, Lee Jae-Ryong in “Sando”, Lee Seo-Jin in “Yi San” (Lee San, Wind of the palace.)  There is only one exception, and that is Jo Hyun-Jae in “Seo Dong Yo”.

Jo Hyun-Jae possesses the aura and style of an aristocrat and a certain charisma, but there is always a faint hint of sadness on his face.  He has to be under the cameras day and night continuously.  The long and tongue-twisting dialogue in ancient language makes it very difficult for him.  But we cooperate well together and we get used to one another.  I would say it is good training for him.

That winter (2005) when we were filming “Seo Dong Yo” was very cold and snowed a lot which made filming on location so much more difficult.  At that time there was a blizzard along the western coast highway, and one of the actors had a car accident.  Since this director made enormous demands on JHJ, he normally left immediately after finishing his shots.  But because of the heavy snow, the roads were blocked, so he was stranded and could not leave.

Since “Jewel in the palace” started the Korean wave, the “Seo Dong Yo” locations are favourites with fans.  “Seo Dong Yo” first aired in 2005 when Korean dramas were still very popular.  There were many fans which came in groups to our filming locations which made work very difficult.

During the filming of “Seo Dong Yo”, what impressed me most were the fans.  Jo Hyun-Jae and Lee Bo-Young  are more or less the same age – in their mid-20s.  Those JHJ fans who came from all over Korea in tourist buses were all ajumas in their 30s and 40s.  Every visit brought groups of over 100 who brought all kinds of food for JHJ.  JHJ could not possibly eat all that, so he shared with the entire crew.

On the other hand, Lee Bo-Young’s fans were all high school boys.  On her birthday, they all wore top hats and with candles in hand sang “Happy birthday”.  That was one marvellous performance on set.

(Rest of article has nothing to do with JHJ.)

The magazine came with a DVD.  I stoically sat through the first 10 minutes but had to fast-forward the rest.  It’s not because they are speaking Korean and the subtitles are in Japanese.  Director Lee sits chatting with 3 not-young, not-good-looking supporting actors (two male, one female — I only recognize Bumro’s Dad in SDY, but I think he’s there in his capacity of Jang Geum’s stepfather in “Jewel in the palace.”)  They just sit on the floor talking about I-don’t-know-what, and only clips and actors from “Jewel in the palace” are shown.  There is NOTHING on “Seo Dong Yo” or JHJ!  I feel cheated!

(Credit: English translation based on Chinese translation on johyunjae.hk.  First photo from Param of CarpeDiemJAPAN, second photo from EVERjohyunjae.co.kr.  Many thanks!)