Through the Disney+ drama ‘Hyperknife’, Seol Kyung-gu portrayed the character with the most complex emotions of his career.Playing the role of genius surgeon Deok-hee, he expressed complex emotions such as affection, hatred, regret, compassion, responsibility, anger, and guilt towards his sociopathic student Se-ok(Park Eun-bin), who had her medical license revoked by her own hands.

He portrayed a “relationship between a priest and a disciple that is by no means ordinary” in which they not only use harsh words but also physical violence against each other, and he smiled with satisfaction, saying, “I feel joy when I play an abnormal, uncommon character.For me, ‘Hyperknife’ was just that kind of work.”

O “My first time acting as a doctor”

Seol Kyung-gu attributed the ability to portray such a complex priest-student relationship to Park Eun-bin, who played the role of Se-ok.Park Eun-bin, who usually plays bright and cheerful roles, said that she chose this drama because she was “curious about playing a sociopathic character.” In the process, he said that he and Park Eun-bin shared a friendship that surpassed their 24-year age difference.

“I really talked to Eunbin a lot.It must not have been easy for her to call me first, not only on set, but she kept calling me.So we chatted a lot.Even about personal things.”

It is also notable that this is his first time playing a doctor character in 32 years since his debut.When asked, “Wasn’t it a shame that there weren’t many surgery scenes?” he sighed, saying, “That’s actually a good thing.”

“The brain surgery scene required really delicate hand movements, but since my fingers are thick, it wasn’t easy for me.A professor at a university hospital did the close-up scenes of my hands instead.Fortunately, there weren’t many difficult medical terms.I have trouble remembering words that I don’t understand.”

O “Voluntarily lose weight”

In order to make the character gradually die from a fatal brain tumor more realistic, Seol Kyung-gu went on a ‘super fast’ and lost over 10kg.Even he, who is a ‘master of weight control’ who gained and lost weight several times while filming, said, “It wasn’t easy to film and lose weight at the same time.”

“In order to express the character gradually dying, I started losing weight as soon as filming began.I thought I was going to die because it was so hard.The director said I didn’t have to lose weight, but I couldn’t do it in good conscience.It doesn’t make sense for someone who is dying to look healthy.”

He also did white hair makeup to show the difference between Deok-hee’s past and present.He chose the difficult special makeup for the sake of the drama’s quality, even though there were easy makeup methods available.

“I once did white hair makeup in another movie, but it was so unnatural and unsightly.I asked them to put in white hairs one by one, even though it was hard work.It took an hour and a half just to do the white hair makeup.”


Reporter Seungmi smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.