할리우드가 부쩍 가까워졌다. 배우 이병헌은 개봉예정작인 “지.아이.조2: 전쟁의 서막”에서 전작보다 더 비중 있는 역할로 할리우드에서 존재감을 알렸다.

이병헌은 11월 오후 진행된 인터뷰에서 할리우드 진출을 결심한 계기와 현장에서 겪었던 자신만의 고충에 대해서 털어놓았다.

“(야망보다는)호기심이 앞섰죠. 현재 두 편의 영화를 끝낸 상태임에도 불구하고, 아직도 저는 궁금해요. 이제부터 제 앞에 무슨 일들이 벌어질지, 제 능력이 어디까지 닿을 수 있는지가 말이죠.” 라고 그는 말했다.

그가 현장에서 겪은 고충도 남달랐다고 한다. 통역사 없이 감독님이나 동료배우들과 소통하는 것도 쉽지 않았을뿐더러, 대본에 있는 모든 대사를 미국식 영어로 완벽히 구사할 수 있어야 했기 때문이다.

현장에서의 어려움은 이 뿐만이 아니었다. 문화차이에서 오는 시간개념과 감독의 권한에 대한 사고방식이 달랐기에 더욱 더 적응하는데 힘들었다. 한국영화 같은 경우, 감독이 만족할 때까지 반복하여 촬영하는 것이 다반사며, 시간이 지연될 경우 다음날로 미루어지는 때도 종종 있다. 반면에, 미국에서는 시작과 끝이 분명하여, 그날 할당된 분량은 무조건 끝내는 것을 규칙으로 한다. 배우로써, 실수에 대한 부담감이 컸을뿐더러, 외롭기도 하고, 때론 위협적이기까지 했다고 한다.

같은 시기에 미국에서 촬영 중이던 박찬욱 감독과 김지운 감독들과도 동병상련의 교류가 있었는데, 촬영 도중 “미치겠다”, “때려치고 싶다” 등 한탄하는 문자메시지를 받고 낄낄거린 적도 있다고 그는 말했다.

지아이조의 감독 존추는 이병헌의 연기가 갖는 이중성에 대한 칭찬을 아끼지 않았다. 그의 2008년작 “좋은놈, 나쁜놈, 이상한놈”에서는 악당으로써의 강렬함과 유머러스함을 동시에 보여주었으며, 이번 지아이조2에서 스톰쉐도우는 냉소적인 액션캐릭터임에도 불구하고, 감정연기를 통해 숨겨진 인간미를 보여주었다.

“지아이조2: 전쟁의 서막”은 최정예 특수 부대인 지.아이.조가 코브라군단의 음모로부터 요원들과 세계를 구하는 치열한 전투과정을 그린 작품이며 오는 28일 개봉한다.



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Becoming ‘Storm Shadow’ in Hollywood

By Claire Lee


Park Chan-wook has been there, so did Kim Jee-woon. Hollywood may not be the undiscovered place for Korean directors as of this year; they’ve made their debut films there, released them, and experienced the red carpet glamour.

The U.S. district, however, still remains foreign for most of local actors. One of the few exceptions is the case of top actor Lee Byung-hun, whose performance in his 2009 Hollywood debut “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” was a presence.

The actor is now ahead of the opening of the 2009 Sci-fi flick’s sequel, “G.I. Joe 2: The Retaliation,” where he returns as the Storm Shadow -- the famous heroic character who works as a ninja bodyguard doing epic stunts. Lee, who enjoyed much success with his last year Korean period drama “Masquerade” -- the film remains as the third highest grossing Korean film of all time -- says it’s his “curiosity” that drew him into Hollywood.

“It was more of curiosity (than ambition),” said the top actor during a group interview with the local press in Seoul on Monday.

“Even after my second movie, I am still curious. I still wonder what I can actually offer in Hollywood and how much further I could go with my career there. I’m up for new challenges and opportunities.”

Shooting his second Hollywood film required the top actor a number of things, including mastering every script line in a perfect American English and getting used to the Hollywood filmmaking system -- which is very different from the one in Korea.

Both Park Chan-wook and Kim Jee-woon have shared their hardships getting used to the system, which they experienced while shooting ‘Stoker’ and ‘The Last Stand.’ Unlike the Korean film industry, where all the crew members work on the set until the director is satisfied with the shoots, working in Hollywood strictly requires to start and finish each day’s work on time. Director Kim said the experience was “lonely” and “extremely challenging.” Lee said it was “efficient but intimidating sometimes.”

“Director Park and Kim were all in the U.S. while I was shooting this film,” said Lee.

“Both of them would often text me (when they were frustrated) and say, ‘I am going nuts’ or ‘I could just pack everything and go home now.’ I’d giggle whenever I received the texts. But seriously speaking, I think getting used to the system must have been much harder for them than it was to me. From what I’ve seen, being a film director in Korea is just totally different from being the same thing in Hollywood.”

Unlike Park Chan-wook and Kim Jee-woon, Lee got himself out there without an interpreter. Throughout the shooting process, he communicated with all of the U.S. crew members without any help from the third party. Director Jon Chu, who worked with Lee for the film, in fact said the actor surprisingly spoke “perfect English.”

“I remember him coming into the project and everyone was like, ‘oh, he doesn’t speak that much of English,’” Chu said during a group interview with the Korean press during his visit to Seoul on Monday.

“So I thought this would be interesting how we would interact with each other. But then he came in for a meeting and he spoke perfect English. There he talked about he wanted the character to be more emotional and real. He wanted to create a rawer, rage-filled character than just a carton character. It was great. We could talk about the things below the surface.”

The 42-year-old actor is undoubtedly one of Korea’s most celebrated film stars, having starred in more than 40 films and TV drama series. He is noted for his strong presence and nuanced acting style. Though he appears as an action hero in the upcoming movie, his previous roles include an intelligence agent, an arrogant business man falling for an orphaned woman, and a Joseon Dynasty commoner who ends up standing in for his ill ruler.

“I loved that he could be really strong and powerful but at the same time have a sense of humor about himself,” Chu said about Lee’s performance in Kim Jee-woon’s 2008 film “The Good, the Bad, the Weird,” where the actor appears as a villain.

“I loved that you were scared of him but also felt for him. That combination was very rare for me because usually I think in American action movies you are either a villain or a hero. The in-betweens are tough. And what I loved about Lee Byung-hun’s performance in all these movies is that he plays the line very well. He plays it and goes back and forth. And that takes a real artist.”

The G.I.Joe films based on American board game company Hasbro toy and cartoon series. Lee’s character, Storm Shadow, is a Japanese-American who used to serve in the U.S. Army’s special operations group. “He seems cold and cynical, mostly because of this traumatic experience he had in the past,” Lee said. “And there is this scene in the movie where he simply explodes with all the suppressed emotions. That’s one of the scenes that I considered most important.”

“His acting style is very strong and he can be very intense,” said American pro-wrestler and actor Dwayne Johnson, who starred in the movie with Lee. The actor said he was unaware of Lee’s stardom in Asia until director Chu “educated him” about it.

“One of the most impressive things about Lee is that he is a very, very disciplined actor who takes his job incredibly seriously. Even in our world of cosmic mythology he brings a very nice way to perform (his role). I’m very impressed with the guy. A nice guy, too.”

“G.I Joe 2: Retaliation” opens in theaters on March 28.

(dyc@heraldcorp.com)