[ARTICLE/TRANS] 170511 Herald Pop Interview - Sungjoo “’The Liar and His Lover’, the turning point in my life, my first step in Korea” (PART 1)

Boy group UNIQ Sungjoo has transformed into Crude Play Yoo Sihyun in “The Liar and His Lover”, his challenge in acting was a success.

tvN “The Liar and His Lover” which consists of Lee Hyunwoo and Joy’s fresh romance and its discovery upon many new actors in their 20’s. Seo Chanyoung (starring Lee Seowon) who is part of the popular band Crude play together with Sungjoo (as Yoo Sihyun), Shin Jaemin (as Lee Yoon), Jang Kiyong (as Ji Inho) including Joy’s band which comprises of Song Kang (as Baek Jinwoo) and Park Jonghyung (as Lee Kyusun) as main characters.

Among the others, Sungjoo is the 2^nd person who sings the most after Joy and was able to showcase his singing abilities. Sungjoo is a member, leader and main vocal of boy group UNIQ. UNIQ has made its debut in 2014 and became very popular in China. Sungjoo has gained popularity in China with various performances such as in variety shows, dramas, and movies. Although he feels apologetic about his domestic performances, however he challenged his first Korean drama with “The Liar and His Lover” and achieved his desired result.

Sungjoo said “This is my first drama project in Korea and it was an honor to meet Director Kim Jin Min. Although I’ve been filming dramas and movies in China, however it was a rare opportunity to work with actors around my age. It is a project where I could meet with good friends, so it will be an unforgettable memory to me,” which conveyed his thoughts about it.

 “The Liar and His Lover” was originally adapted from a Japanese manga. Sungjoo, who originally liked reading Japanese mangas, has prepared really hard that he read it more than 10 times before auditioning for his role as Yoo Sihyun. He said “Regardless of which character, it is necessary to prepare more than what the director understood about the character itself.”

In addition, the character of Yoo Sihyun resembles Sungjoo a lot. Sungjoo said “Sihyun is Crude Play’s leader, I am also UNIQ’s leader. The atmosphere is similar too, the main vocal position is similar too, the amount of members are also the same,” also he said “I didn’t think of it as acting, I’m just thinking of it like playing while filming. If I think of it as acting, it would be quite awkward.”

Crude Play members Lee Seowon, Jang Kiyong, Shin Jaemin are all new born talented actors who are in their 20’s. Sungjoo said “I often went to the room escape game and it was really fun. It was a nostalgia of Korea that I felt when I was doing my Chinese activities,” he continued on saying “It is natural to speak in Chinese, but you have to interpret and study the script as you speak. Since Korean is a native language, I was able to do adlibs naturally, therefore I felt the language was important,” he said.

Sungjoo is also able to solve his thirst for singing through his character role as Sihyun. Although his group UNIQ has an immersing popularity in China, however their results are lacking in Korea and this is the true fact about it. His variety show and drama appearances in China are more than his activities as a singer. Sungjoo said “I like rock very much. It’s a song genre that I’ve always wanted to do if I’m in a band. It was a great feeling to be able to accomplish it through this drama.” He further continued on saying “The thirst of me wanting to sing on stage was resolved. I only need to lip sync throughout the filming but it was really all over the place. The sound director told me to turn off the microphone because it overlapped.”

Sungjoo also expressed that through “The Liar and His Lover”, this will be the start of him intending to earnestly release his thirst for Korean activities. He said “This time around, my parents said to me ‘So you’re really an artist/entertainer now huh’ and this made me feel very happy. My grandmother and grandfather liked it too and I was really proud of it.” He continued saying, “Thanks to ‘The Liar and His Lover’, I was able to sing, act and meet new friends that will last for a lifetime,” he said.

Sungjoo said “The drama was a turning point for me. It was like the first time stepping into Korea” and continued saying, “It’s my dream of becoming a musical actor. Nowadays, acting seems fun and singing while acting seems to be even better. I’ll try to do everything at once,” he said.

Comments:

[+42, -0] How handsome~~ ^^

[+40, -0] His height is totally manly. Totally looks like Sihyun himself. In future regardless whether it’s dramas, movies or musicals please do them all.

[+27, -0] I’ve watched it well^^

[+23, -0] Other than UNIQ Seungyoun and Sungjoo, I don’t know much about the other members. Both of them seem to have a lot of musical talents. I think it’s possible for Sungjoo to show better performances if he could work harder, especially he has good physical and has a great style throughout the drama. Anyway, it would be great if the company can give him some support

[+19, -0] I’ve watched UNIQ’s variety program that they did in Taiwan. Honestly, this idol group that was made in China imitated korean idols. China saw the success of korean idols and they are limited to being a chinese member in order to make an idol group. It’s not charming to have korean members join and act as an idol group together with chinese members. Sungjoo-gun as a Korean member would have felt something inside right? I think the korean members are such a waste. Just how much thirst does the company have for activities in China? I would really want the korean members to have their own korean activities here in Korea. 

[+9, -0] After his acting activities his face does really seem to be like an actor though

[+7, -0] I watched the drama because I was a fan of the female lead character and I thought it was Sungjoo-ssi’s first time acting but in fact he has done similar activities in China. I will be supporting your activities in Korea in the future~ Wishing all actors in “The Liar and His Lover” to only walk on a flower path! 

[+7, -0] His voice matches with Joy’s tone very well~ I hope they will return with a duet ㅎYou’ve done well with your drama acting, I will support you 

[+6, -0] Ah… is he a rookie actor? His acting was so natural that I didn’t even know he was a rookie actor…

[+6, -0] Jjang! So cool~~

original link: here

trans: jiji (@wenjoox)
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