The Face Genius Actor

Episode 133

Originally, I didn’t plan to work with Director Kang Han-sung.

Showing him the script for Part 1 of “Toema Hwan Ya Dam” was just to get advice.

While having a meal and catching up after getting his advice,

Director Kang Han-sung spoke up.

“Um… Actor…”

Because Director Kang Han-sung’s attitude was so cautious, I answered a bit nervously.

“Yes?”

“About ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’…”

“Yes.”

“Have you found a director yet?”

Fortunately, it seemed Director Kang Han-sung hadn’t brought up the topic to give a negative review of “Toema Hwan Ya Dam”.

“No, not yet. I’d like to work with a rookie director again if possible, but I can’t find a suitable person.”

“Are you looking for a co-director by any chance?”

I couldn’t help but be surprised by Director Kang Han-sung’s question.

“How did you know?”

“Somehow, I felt that you wouldn’t be satisfied with just making your debut as a writer. The other co-director is you, right?”

“I have to admit, your insight is impressive. So, if you know any good directors, please recommend them.”

“Does it have to be a rookie?”

“Yes, that would be good.”

After thinking for a while, Director Kang Han-sung spoke.

“If it doesn’t have to be a rookie… How about me?”

I couldn’t help but be surprised by those words.

It was a proposal I really hadn’t expected.

Director Kang Han-sung had shown interest in working with me before.

He had hinted at his intention when I showed him the script for “I Am Not a Villain”.

But his interest then was because “I Am Not a Villain” was a movie.

Kang Han-sung was a typical case who started freelancing after gaining some experience as a drama director after joining KBC.

For this reason, he hadn’t had the opportunity to direct a film until now, and it made sense for him to be interested in “I Am Not a Villain” in this regard.

However, “Toema Hwan Ya Dam” was a drama.

There was no reason for someone like Director Kang Han-sung, who was in high demand, to be particularly interested.

Especially if it was co-directing, even more so.

After all, co-directing could potentially diminish Director Kang Han-sung’s reputation a bit.

That’s why I couldn’t understand Director Kang Han-sung’s proposal at all.

“You, Director? Why… Even though you know I’m looking for a co-director…”

“There are mainly two reasons, but first… Actually, I’ve lost a lot of confidence recently.”

“Ah.”

Director Kang Han-sung had recently directed a drama called “Doctor Jun” which failed significantly.

It only achieved a 2.13% viewership rating on public broadcast.

For Director Kang Han-sung, who had been on a streak of successes since “Arrest”, this failure must have been quite painful.

“But isn’t it just one work that didn’t do well after ‘Arrest’?”

“That’s true, but… Actually, I’ve been stuck in a rut for the past year. So I keep thinking that might be the reason ‘Doctor Jun’ failed.”

“If that’s the case, I can see how you might feel something like guilt.”

“It’s not just guilt, but I started to have fundamental doubts about whether I should continue doing this work. One of my friends said he has a good restaurant business, so I’ve been interested in that…”

Come to think of it, even before my regression, Director Kang Han-sung left the drama industry around this time.

And he didn’t take on any directing jobs after that.

I suddenly remembered that.

‘Did the Director succeed in the restaurant business…’

I couldn’t recall anything beyond this point.

However, one thing was certain: if I didn’t hold onto Director Kang Han-sung now, the drama industry would lose a valuable talent.

‘Originally, I was planning to work with a rookie director as I had decided…’

In this situation, it seemed I needed to reconsider.

Thinking about it, working with a rookie director and working with an established director considering retirement were the same in the sense that they didn’t follow the predetermined future.

‘Rather, while the former just accelerates the future, the latter can completely change it.’

If that was the case, I had no reason not to work with Director Kang Han-sung.

But I still hadn’t heard the second reason why Director Kang Han-sung became interested in co-directing “Toema Hwan Ya Dam”.

“I understand the situation you’re in now, Director. But why specifically ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’?”

“Actually…”

“Yes.”

“When I first read the script for ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’, I felt motivated again after a long time. It was such an interesting script.”

“…To the extent that you’d be okay with taking on co-directing?”

Receiving my question, Director Kang Han-sung smiled.

“Since I’ve already decided to leave this industry, what does it matter if it’s co-directing?”

Hearing this answer, I could tell how much Director Kang Han-sung was pushed to the edge.

But at the same time, I felt excited.

If I worked with Director Kang Han-sung on “Toema Hwan Ya Dam”, I wouldn’t have to worry about the directing aspect being amateurish.

Rather, with his directing help, an even better work could be born.

Moreover, being able to learn directing from Director Kang Han-sung’s side was a significant advantage.

After all, Director Kang Han-sung was undoubtedly one of the top drama directors in Korea.

‘Also, if we work together, I’ll have the opportunity to slowly persuade him not to leave this industry.’

After organizing all these thoughts, I opened my mouth towards Director Kang Han-sung.

“Alright. Let’s do it together.”

* * *

Now that Director Kang Han-sung had joined and we had secured investment from Netflix, it was time to move on to the next stage.

In the meantime, I had smoothly completed the script work up to Part 3, so it wasn’t difficult to move on to the next stage.

The next stage was casting actors.

‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam is a 16-episode series. Unlike “I Am Not a Villain”… we can’t lead the story with just a minimal cast.’

That’s why formal casting was essential.

Of course, even for “I Am Not a Villain”, there were officially cast actors.

Not all roles were filled with cameo appearances.

But “Toema Hwan Ya Dam” was on a different scale.

Many other characters appeared surrounding the main character ‘Yeon’.

There were three lead roles that needed to be filled.

“We don’t need to worry about Yeon since you’ll take that role… We urgently need to cast for the main female lead ‘Seo-hee’, the secondary male lead ‘Yi-hyun’, and the final villain ‘Ma-yeok-ryeong’.”

I nodded at Director Kang Han-sung’s words.

“Yes. Those three roles have the most weight for now. Also, if possible, I’d like to cast someone good for the guardian spirit ‘Wi-rang’.”

“Ah, certainly Wi-rang will also appear frequently on screen. We’ll need to find a good actor.”

Also, since “Toema Hwan Ya Dam” was an episodic drama,

We needed actors who could play important roles in each incident.

This aspect couldn’t be overlooked either.

“Casting will take quite some time. Let’s quickly decide on the remaining four lead roles first.”

Various actors’ names were mentioned by me and Director Kang Han-sung.

Among them, names of actors I was personally acquainted with didn’t come up.

All the people around me were already cast in other projects.

Moreover, in the case of “Toema Hwan Ya Dam”, it was a drama with a single male lead.

All events revolved around Yeon, so this was natural.

The weight of other roles didn’t match up to Yeon’s.

‘We can’t cast actors like Ji Jung-hyun, Park Jun, or Cindy in such roles.’

It might be different if it was a drama with two leads.

It was natural.

“Seo-hee needs to play a role that refreshes the atmosphere around her as Yeon’s helper, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then we need an actor with a bright feeling. There’s an actress named ‘Im Seung-hee’ who played the secondary female lead when I directed ‘Love in 18’. How about her?”

“Ah. That’s good. I greeted her on set during her cameo appearance, and she seemed quite bright.”

Director Kang Han-sung certainly knew many actors.

Thanks to that, we could quickly decide who to make casting offers to.

I was especially relieved that the role of the guardian spirit Wi-rang was quickly decided.

“Then, let’s contact the production company to make casting offers as we discussed today. I’ll personally contact the actors I know.”

“Thank you, Director.”

A few weeks later.

While I was completing the script for Part 4, the results of the first casting offers came in.

Im Seung-hee finally accepted the offer for the role of Seo-hee.

Also, ‘Im Jung-hoon’ was confirmed for the role of Ma-yeok-ryeong, and ‘Kim In-ho’ for the role of Wi-rang.

However, unfortunately, we couldn’t confirm the casting for Yi-hyun’s role.

It wasn’t just once.

We made casting offers to other actors for Yi-hyun’s role, but they were all rejected.

The first actor, who had recently been discharged from military service, rejected the offer to take on the main male lead role in another project.

The second actor, who was an active idol, replied that drama filming would be difficult due to album activities.

And the third actor expressed their refusal, saying they needed a break due to poor condition.

-From what I hear, it seems they’re struggling a lot with panic disorder. It looks like casting the third actor will be difficult too, Actor.

As Director Kang Han-sung said, if it was for health reasons, it was hard to force someone to take on a role.

“If that’s the case, there’s nothing we can do.”

-Yes, that’s right. By the way, I’m worried. I thought we could easily find an actor for Yi-hyun’s role.

I thought so too.

I thought we could find an actor for Yi-hyun’s role relatively easily compared to other roles.

But for some reason, it was too difficult to find a suitable actor.

It seemed luck wasn’t on our side.

‘It would be perfect if Kyung-mo could take it, but he already has a project in filming…’

It was a headache.

The bigger problem was that no suitable actor came to mind.

“No names come to mind right now. I’ll look over the list of actors with open schedules later and contact you.”

-Okay. Let’s do that. By the way, it seems you’re outside now?

“I came out to meet my brother. He said we should have a drink after a long time.”

-Ah, I see. Then contact me later. Please send my regards to Actor Lee Si-hwan as well.

With that, I ended the call with Director Kang Han-sung and drove to the countryside house in Yongin where my brother was living these days.

As I parked in front of the parking lot, the door opened automatically.

“You’re here?”

As I parked the car and got out of the driver’s seat, my brother greeted me like this in front of the entrance.

He said he was taking a break these days with his schedule cleared, but he looked terrible.

“…Couldn’t you change your clothes?”

“Why?”

“It doesn’t seem right for someone who’s supposed to be a world-class model to wear a stretched-out T-shirt.”

“Can’t help it. How can I throw away Louis Vuitton?”

“The problem is that you’re wearing Louis Vuitton so casually in the first place. Does Jean-Drulot Meyère know you’re like this?”

“He knows. So stop nagging and come in. Let’s drink soju and beer quickly.”

I still didn’t like my brother’s appearance, but I couldn’t resist soju and beer.

I followed my brother into the house.

During this, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘Wait a minute… For Yi-hyun’s role…’