Joo Won is a talented actor. He has taken on difficult roles, including a convincing night-and-day transformation in the series "Bridal Mask," but his interactions with actresses have been challenging.
In a recent interview he talked about the kissing scenes he had to do with Choi Kang Hee in "Level 7 Civil Servant." The cast watched the final episode together during a dinner party and he admitted that there were so many kissing scenes at the end, he could not watch out of embarrassment.
When the filming started, he anticipated the first kissing scene.
"Then toward the end," he said, "There were too many kissing scenes. I was tired of them. I wondered if I should move with our lips touching or not."
Since that did not seem appropriate, he asked Kang Hee, but she said it was up to him. She didn't care.
It wasn't the age difference between the leads that made it difficult. "I don't feel the 10-year age gap between me and her," said Joo Won. "She looks young for her age."
It's not the first time the actor has admitted to having a tough time with acting intimacy. When interviewed about the kissing scenes that were part of his performance in "King of Baking, Kim Takgu," he had an interesting exchange with a reporter. In that exchange he admitted that such scenes made him nervous. The kissing scenes in that drama had to be filmed several times to get them right.
"It's not just the mouth-to-mouth kissing but I must also consider the camera angles," said Joo Won. "It must give the viewers the right type of feeling. I realized it's not easy. Not like the way we'd normally do it."
When the reporter asked how he normally did it, he responded that people usually do such things, "whatever way they wish."
That performance, problematic kisses included, won him a KBS award for Best New Actor.
Joo Won began his career performing in high school musicals and even then was shy about the opposite sex. In the musical, "Spring Awakening," he played the lead role, Melchior, and had to partially disrobe as well as undress a girl onstage. When asked about this scene, he said the hardest part was undressing the actress.
Hopefully Joo Won's love scenes will become easier to play. He has signed on to play the role of a policeman who falls in love with a burglar in the film, "Only You." After that he will perform the Patrick Swayze role in the musical version of the movie "Ghost" in November. He is also a regular on the variety program, "Two Days and One Night."
