“During the earliest stages of filming, I suffered from insomnia. It’s a little better now but I still feel the same amount of pressure, maybe it’s because my role is so important.”



TOP (Real name Choi Seung Hyun), who has landed his first movie role as one of the leads of ‘Into the Gunfire’ (directed by Lee Jae Han), has been in a state of nervousness ever since filming started last December.

He was a memorable character as the ‘bad guy’ in the drama ‘IRIS’, and has been chosen as one of the leads of ‘Into the Gunfire’ so soon after the end of his last role. The story is set during the Korean War and is centred around the lives of student soldiers; he will play the role of the teenage commander leading 71 other student soldiers and will literally lead the story too.

It would’ve be tough trying to meet up to the standards of prominent actor sunbaes like Cha Seung Won who plays a North Korean soldier, Kim Seung Woo as a national soldier, and Kwon Sang Woo as another student soldier etc., but he says the thing that worried him most was trying to realistically portray the thoughts and feelings of student soldiers, whose situations required them to take part in the war.

During the ‘At the scene of Into The Gunfire’ broadcast from Hapcheon, Kyeongsang Namdo, TOP was seen having a hard time filming battle scenes every day, with his nails blackening and the like. But he said that “Rather than the physical suffering, I’m more worried about what I should do to more realistically show the emotions of war which I haven’t experienced myself” and that “The pressure was so immense that I couldn’t even sleep properly during the early stages of filming”.

Now that they’re in the final stages of filming, he says he’s finally getting the feel of acting but he still constantly wonders whether he’s doing the right thing or not.. He laughed as he said ”It’s a much more important role than what I’ve had in the past so I’m kind of scared about whether I’m doing it right or not.”

But his sunbae actors like Cha Seung Won and Kim Seung Woo said “Considering TOP’s charismatic looks and the way he thinks hard about acting before clearly portraying his thoughts, he definitely has the potential to become a huge actor in his 30’s or 40’s.”

TOP, who postponed his album that was scheduled for release in the first half of the year for his acting, said ”I think this will be a great chance for me to become better known as an actor in the minds of the public, [...] but no matter what I do I’ll never stop thinking about my music.“



Sources:
Original article.
Translation by s.jayx@BBVIP.net