“I learned acting from watching my seniors”
Role of a student soldier… purposely not washing and giving up looking good
Now wants to become an ‘actor who’s deeply into it’
His real name is Choi Seung Hyun. As a singer he’s TOP, as an actor TOP(Choi Seung Hyun). As he rises up as an actor through the film Into the Gunfire, what’s the reason for notating both his stage name and real name side by side?
“I worked for five years with the name TOP. The public knows me as TOP, and I didn’t want to bother using my real name Choi Seung Hyun. But putting the word TOP on a movie poster didn’t really fit. It’s a war movie set in 1950. So we put both names on the poster.”
Into the Gunfire tells the true story of 71 student soldiers who fought at the Pohang battlefield during the war in 1950. TOP/Choi Seung Hyun was given the role of a character who was modeled after a real person, Lee Woo Geun. According to the production company, this true story will convey the pain of having to kill another person in order to preserve oneself in the nightmare that is war.
It is well known that TOP was cast for this movie while he was filming for the drama ‘IRIS.’ Both projects were produced by Tae Won Entertainment. TOP expressed that showing his face on ‘IRIS’ was like ‘sitting on pins and needles.’ He had to receive both praise and insults. More than anything, he had a difficult time putting significance on his role in the drama, which appeared suddenly and without warning.
“A movie lasts forever. After getting the role of the student soldier, I tried many different things to do the job well. I purposely didn’t get rid of any dirt that got stuck under my nails, and I didn’t get any dental scaling done in order to make my teeth go yellow. And of course, I gave up trying to look good.”
TOP was the youngest of the cast for this movie. He says that he learned a lot just from acting alongside his seniors Kim Seung Woo, Cha Seung Won, and Kwon Sang Woo. More than anything, because he was the youngest on set, he gave his all no matter what he was doing. Even when iron filings got into his left eye causing cornea damage, to him that was no difficulty.
“Whenever I went back to my room after filming to wash up, I would discover all these bruises and cuts. But I couldn’t make a big deal out of it. I was in a situation where I had to learn more than anything else. I didn’t have the leisure of taking care of myself.”
TOP revealed his future, the determination he has when he goes on stage. He says that he has never gone on stage thinking that he was an idol singer. If he had thought that way, he would have been unable to keep himself within his given boundaries. It his pride that he has his own unique charm that other groups don’t have and other rappers can’t pull off.
“Now, it feels like I’m standing in the the middle of judgment. I don’t like being judged as a singer that is transforming into an actor. I just want to do both music and acting. And since I did start acting, I do have dreams. I want to be an actor who does profound work. Isn’t that possible if I just have passion?”
Source: media daum (May 20, 2010)
Translation: seungie@tumblr
Shared: Yvonne@bigbangupdates
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