A Genius Director Who Dominates OTT Platforms - Chapter 65

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Director Who Dominates OTT

 

Episode 65

 

* * *

 

To be honest, the content of how I pressured Ra-un didn’t have any particular meaning in itself.

 

He could walk fast, throw a volleyball, or curse up a storm.

 

However he chose to express his anger was up to Kim Ra-un.

 

He’s an actor worthy of that much freedom.

 

Moreover, unlike the Accomplice writers who were masters of detail, Writer Yeom’s script has quite loose emotional expression directions.

 

There were many parts left entirely to the actors.

 

So my criticism of Kim Ra-un’s acting wasn’t because his acting was actually bad.

 

It was to apply pressure.

 

Kim Ra-un’s strength is that he aligns the role with himself.

 

He obsessively digs in and completely transforms the character into Kim Ra-un’s version.

 

This is definitely a tremendous strength.

 

Accomplice was just unusual.

 

But perhaps because that memory was too intense, Kim Ra-un kept trying to separate ‘Park Seong-hwa’ from himself.

 

As if they were completely different people.

 

This is an impossible goal.

 

Unless you’re a complete newcomer appearing in the world for the first time, it’s natural for the actor to show through in the role.

 

Eum Seong-hyeon just received the privilege of having an unfamiliar face.

 

So what I wanted wasn’t the fictional personality of Park Seong-hwa, but Kim Ra-un who had lived Park Seong-hwa’s life.

 

It didn’t matter at all if he looked like Kim Ra-un.

 

After all, my supernatural ability conducts casting based on ‘the actor who would have lived the role’s life.’

 

Just like how So Jeong-hun’s habits and Jeong-hun’s habits in the possession were identical.

 

I pressured Kim Ra-un to convey this.

 

With numerous extras watching, I unhesitatingly called NG and repeated takes.

 

To make him embarrassed and angry.

 

Though I was a bit flustered that Kim Ra-un endured much longer than I expected.

 

Actually, it didn’t seem like he was angry at all?

 

Having observed Kim Ra-un for a long time, I knew his contorted face was just from embarrassment.

 

Anyway, the moment I aligned Kim Ra-un and Park Seong-hwa’s psychological states, I conveyed my intention.

 

“Now it doesn’t matter if it’s Park Seong-hwa or Kim Ra-un. Let’s go again.”

 

The resulting performance was perfect.

 

I was truly impressed when he took off his shoes.

 

Park Seong-hwa is a stubborn old-timer, but he also has the tendencies of an old-school sportsman who highly values effort and dedication.

 

No more directing about character expression would be necessary.

 

Kim Ra-un had gotten the hang of it.

 

Now the problem was…

 

‘How do I salvage my social image?’

 

While I was thinking about that, I saw Kim Ra-un approaching me.

 

I tensed up slightly.

 

Though he didn’t seem angry, I could have been mistaken, right?

 

But fortunately, it wasn’t a mistake.

 

“Hyung, thank you.”

 

“Are you okay? Did I pressure you too much?”

 

“No. It was tremendously helpful. You told me several times I didn’t need to act like in Accomplice, but I was stupidly worrying about it.”

 

When did this guy become so broad-minded?

 

Did he visit a temple or something?

 

“Ra-un.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Want to smile together?”

 

“Why?”

 

“For my social image?”

 

“Should we burst into laughter?”

 

“Then it’ll look like I threatened you to laugh. Let’s just smile.”

 

When I smiled at Kim Ra-un, he smiled back too.

 

Seeing that made me genuinely laugh, so I laughed a bit more.

 

Isn’t this method acting?

 

* * *

 

To Oh Ha-eun, who played PR team leader Yu A-yeon, Dohyeon-u was someone she was grateful to.

 

When she asked the team leader how the casting came about, she was told that Dohyeon-u had liked her acting.

 

So she secretly thought:

 

‘Isn’t he interested in me?’

 

There was a non-zero possibility he could be attracted after watching her work.

 

In her imagination, she even produced several romance works set in the entertainment industry.

 

But…

 

‘He’s, laughing?’

 

Not now.

 

Dohyeon-u, who had been expressionlessly pressuring Kim Ra-un, was now smiling at Kim Ra-un after filming ended.

 

Senior Kim Ra-un could afford to smile.

 

Either way, Director Dohyeon-u was SSK’s overall supervisor with 100% responsibility for 【Caught at Fingertips】.

 

Since he held all the money for filming this drama and the rights to the work, he should smile even if it’s fake.

 

But Dohyeon-u shouldn’t be smiling.

 

After acting so scary, shouldn’t he at least look apologetic?

 

‘He’s, scary.’

 

That’s when it happened.

 

Dohyeon-u, who had been smiling at Kim Ra-un, slowly started walking toward her.

 

Oh Ha-eun was startled.

 

Come to think of it, the next scene was hers.

 

Was he going to do the same thing to her?

 

Would he pour out harsh criticism saying if she was going to act like that, she should retire and open a tteokbokki shop?

 

‘What do I do, what do I do, what do I do.’

 

Oh Ha-eun, fallen into fear, couldn’t decide what expression to make when Dohyeon-u arrived.

 

“Oh Ha-eun?”

 

“Yes! I’m Oh Ha-eun!”

 

“…?”

 

“I’m, I’m Oh Ha-eun playing Yu A-yeon.”

 

“Yes. I know.”

 

Was he telling her not to say stupid things?

 

Was this pressure saying if she was going to waste time with useless talk, she should retire from acting and open a malatang restaurant?

 

“How is it?”

 

“Very good.”

 

“Really? Nothing difficult?”

 

Oh Ha-eun, who perfectly understood the message that there shouldn’t be any even if there were, shook her head.

 

If she nodded here, she felt like she’d have to learn the skill of making deli manju.

 

“Nothing!”

 

“Good. I’ll look forward to it.”

 

“I’ll meet your expectations!”

 

“Yes. If there’s anything difficult, let me know. I’ll be watching.”

 

Oh Ha-eun, whose mind went blank at the threat that he’d monitor her acting, read her script with all her might in the short time available.

 

It was a script I’d already read until it was worn out, but it felt like something was still lacking.

 

And so we began filming.

 

“Cut! Okay! That was excellent!”

 

I delivered the best performance of my life.

 

Even I was surprised by the level.

 

“…?”

 

Am I perhaps a genius?

 

* * *

 

The filming that had started at dawn had somehow reached the pitch-black night.

 

While the actors who had been repeating waiting and filming all day were catching some sleep in the van.

 

The managers gathered in small groups.

 

Since they would be working closely together for the next few months, they wanted to get acquainted early.

 

Of course, some of them already had existing relationships.

 

Manager Han from Surfer Entertainment who takes care of Min Jae-ryul and Oh Ha-eun.

 

Manager Baek from D.P Entertainment who takes care of Kim Ra-un and four regular supporting actors.

 

The two were close enough to drink together in private.

 

“At least you can see some stars in Paju, right?”

 

“Isn’t that a satellite?”

 

After beating around the bush with pointless talk, Manager Han spoke up.

 

“But isn’t the call sheet for this project pretty decent?”

 

“It definitely feels balanced.”

 

Most drama filming sets tend to rush through important scenes early on when there are no stamina issues.

 

Important scenes usually require a lot of effort, and more effort means more expense.

 

Every single NG costs money, and you need stamina to maintain concentration.

 

So it wasn’t uncommon to film the ending of a work during the first shoot.

 

From the actors’ perspective, this meant having to perform acting that encompasses the emotional arc up to episode 16 right after the meet-and-greet and script reading.

 

Of course, actors who have reached mastery in their craft don’t have much difficulty, but not everyone is a master.

 

Actors whose skills haven’t fully matured sometimes pray that their call sheets will be easy.

 

In that sense, the call sheet for “Fingertips” felt like it struck an exquisite balance between actor immersion and cost reduction.

 

While filming focused on important scenes, there were always shoots in between that prevented the emotional flow from jumping around too much.

 

If only one or two people felt this way, it could be considered coincidence, but if everyone felt the same, this was intentional.

 

“Dohyeon-u must have arranged it, right?”

 

“Probably? Since he’s an actor-turned-director, he knows what actors want.”

 

“But didn’t he never do major commercial projects?”

 

“He did a lot as minor roles. His filmography is lined with ten-million-viewer films.”

 

“What could you possibly see from contracted daily minor roles?”

 

“Besides minor roles, he probably did quite a few projects he didn’t want to do because of the company, right? I think he went up to second lead in independent films… Did he ever play the protagonist?”

 

While Manager Baek from D.P was pondering, Manager Han tilted his head.

 

“He didn’t want to film them?”

 

“Oh? Ah, it’s nothing major, but even when he said he didn’t want to film something because it seemed like it would flop, if it was a supporting role, the CEO would push him into it. To build recognition first.”

 

“What were the results?”

 

“What’s there to say. They flopped like clockwork. There were many people in the management team who disliked Dohyeon-u, you know? That’s all because he had an uncanny eye for projects.”

 

“What do you mean? If he’s good at judging, why would they dislike him?”

 

“Dohyeon-u would sometimes interfere with the actor’s project choices, you know? Don’t do this one, do that one. But that would sometimes conflict with the management team’s opinions, right?”

 

“Right.”

 

“Then Dohyeon-u would be right like clockwork. From then on, the actor would glare at the manager saying they should have listened to Dohyeon-u, and the manager would feel awkward. There were cases where teams split because of this.”

 

Manager Han was impressed.

 

“Does he really predict that accurately?”

 

“Yeah. We weren’t really surprised that Dohyeon-u succeeded as a director, you know? Though we didn’t know he could judge his own projects well too.”

 

“Then why didn’t you get closer to him?”

 

“Ah, well. My supervisor really hated him, so I kept my distance. My supervisor was Kim Ra-un’s manager.”

 

“Ah, Director Jang?”

 

“Yeah. He’s having issues with Kim Ra-un now, so I’m the one attached to the set.”

 

After pondering Manager Baek’s words for a moment, Manager Han asked.

 

“Then what about his eye for actors?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, his eye for projects has been proven, right. How’s his eye for actors?”

 

“Looking at Accomplice alone, he seems to have it… But honestly, it’s a bit ambiguous.”

 

“Why?”

 

“The actors Dohyeon-u said would do well were extremely polarized. They either went completely S-class like Kim Ra-un, Seo Jae-yeon, and Choi Jae-hyeok, or they were total failures who returned to theater or retired.”

 

“No middle ground?”

 

“There are some, but not many, right? At most, people like Yeon-u or Seo-ryul?”

 

Manager Han asked.

 

“Then what about Kang Min-sik this time? He’s Dohyeon-u’s theater senior, right?”

 

“Well… It’ll probably be the same, won’t it?”

 

Manager Baek said.

 

“Either S-class or total failure.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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