“My close friends jokingly ask, ‘Are you broke?’ haha.”
During an interview at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Seoul on the 19th, Gang Dong Won shared his thoughts on the final cut. “I saw the final version for the first time. I’d seen the edited version before, and as a creator, there are always parts you feel are lacking,” he said calmly. “Still, I did my absolute best. I hope the reaction is good.”
His reason for choosing ‘Wild Thing’ was clear. “The scenario was very fresh, and I felt it fit well with the current era,” Gang Dong Won explained. “It felt like a role I couldn’t have played when I was younger. I thought it was a character possible only now.”
This project started from ‘fun’ rather than a ‘transformation’. He said, “I had a strong feeling that it would be funny to see me dancing and singing. Rather than a desire to transform, I thought, ‘It would be fun if I did something like this.’ I’ve actually chosen quite a few projects that way.”
What really catches the eye in this work is the styling that perfectly captures the turn-of-the-century vibe. Gang Dong Won recalled, “I tried the wig for the first time during the makeup test, and it was so much fun. I really wanted to try those flashy stages I used to see on TV back in high school. Looking at it now, it might seem tacky, but back then, I thought it was truly cool.”
He was also active in providing input for the music. “From the initial planning stage, we talked a lot about the music,” he explained. “I was the one who most strongly insisted on going with a New Jack Swing feel. I wanted to capture the excitement and the vibe of that era.”
To perform the main song ‘Love Is’, Gang Dong Won learned breakdancing in LA, USA. “The music came out first while I was staying in the US. As soon as I heard it, I thought, ‘I need to start practicing this immediately,'” he said. “I was introduced to a breakdance team in LA and learned from them. I didn’t know much about the hip-hop genre originally, but while learning, I got to study the culture itself.”
The amount of practice was beyond imagination. Gang Dong Won revealed, “I practiced for four hours every day with the b-boy who served as my double. For the first hour, I just repeated basic steps. Originally, only a headspin was in the script, but a windmill was added later. However, I injured my ribs while practicing.”
Consequently, he focused on the headspin. “I felt that a headspin that almost stops but doesn’t quite is similar to the character Hyun Woo,” Gang Dong Won said. “I practiced only the headspin for three to four months.”
However, he admitted he wasn’t familiar with the modern idol ‘ending pose culture’. Gang Dong Won joked, “Park Ji Hyun told me, ‘Sunbaenim, you have to do an ending pose.’ That’s when I first found out. I heard that panting for breath is a key point; if I had known, I would have panted more.”
He also mentioned his chemistry with Um Tae Goo. “I was curious how he lives his daily life speaking so little,” he said. “He’s really quiet, but he completely changes once filming starts.”
He said his perspective on dance singers changed through this project. “After actually trying it, I realized that dance singers are truly amazing,” Gang Dong Won said. “I wondered how much they must have practiced since they were young. It’s really not an easy task.”
He also noticed an unexpected reaction after the music video was released. He smiled and said, “I saw faces I don’t usually see coming in. The new reactions were fascinating. But it’s a bit disappointing that there’s no next stage.”
Even after more than 20 years since his debut, Gang Dong Won said his thoughts on acting remain the same. “I have never once thought about retirement,” he said. “In the past, I had a strong desire to act until the day I die, but my thoughts have changed slightly recently. Still, since acting is a profession where roles you can play continue to emerge according to your age, I think I can do it for a long time.” He added with a smile, “I think that’s the charm of this profession.”
