The "Parasite" star on Hollywood ambitions, scheduling problems and the challenge of memorizing lines in English
Korean stars crossing over to Hollywood isn't exactly rare anymore: Park Seo-jun popped up in "The Marvels"; Jeon Jong-seo did "Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon" and has "Highlander" coming up.
You'd think Choi Woo-shik would be a natural fit. The guy grew up in Vancouver, speaks fluent English and has one of the most recognizable faces in Korean cinema thanks to "Parasite."
Yet the credits haven't come. What's the holdup?
"Schedule," he says. "After 'Parasite,' there was tons of talk, lots of back and forth. But it was really hard to actually make it work."
Part of it is that work keeps piling up at home. There's last year's rom-com "Would You Marry Me" opposite Jung So-min, and the webtoon-based period piece "The Gyeongseong Mermaid" with Mun Ka-young slated for next year.
Meanwhile, Hollywood productions aren't going to wait around for him. "Over there, I haven't proven anything yet," Choi says. "I'm basically a rookie. They're not going to hold their schedule for me."
There's something tricky about the language, too. Acting in English — as opposed to just talking — turns out to be harder than he thought. "Conversation is fine. My words, my rhythm, whatever. But delivering a character's lines, with their vocabulary, their speech patterns, that's a different thing entirely."
He recently hit a wall while prepping an audition tape for an English-language production. "Even when the lines aren't that long, it gets tough. Memorizing dialogue in Korean is nothing for me. But in English, I felt like I was starting from scratch."
It's almost like his personality shifts with the language. "In Korean, my tone goes up when I'm acting, as do most actors. But in English, it drops way lower.
"My friends tell me I sound better in English, but I'm not trying to sound different. It just happens."
None of this has put him off, though. "I really want to give it a shot," he says. "I'm talking to overseas agents all the time. Hopefully, I'll have something good to share soon.
"If things slow down here, or the right thing comes along, I'm definitely going."
"Number One" hits theaters Wednesday.
moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com
