| Actor Kim Min-jae plays matchmaker Ma-hoon in JTBC's fusion historical drama "Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency," which recently wrapped. Courtesy of aymnaym Entertainment |
Known for his deep voice, actor Kim Min-jae has been consistently adding to his filmography every year since he debuted through Mnet's drama "Persevere, Goo Hae-ra" in 2015.
After making a remarkable impression with a brief appearance as the ancient king in 2016's mega-hit drama "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God," he finally was given a lead role in the period drama "Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency," which wrapped earlier this month.
Referring to the role as a "gift," Kim shared what it was like to work on his first period drama. "This piece brought me so much joy and experience. I was able to learn a lot from working on it," the actor said in an interview with The Korea Times, at a cafe in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Monday.
Kim played the lead role Ma-hoon in the series which is about a matchmaking image consulting agency set in the Joseon Kingdom, run by three handsome men. The story has them ― played by Kim, Park Ji-hoon, and Byun Woo-seok ― taking on a job to match a lower-class girl Gae-Ddong (Gong Seung-yeon) with Joseon's King Lee Soo (Seo Ji-hoon).
As a leader and the best matchmaker, Kim played a sharp-tongued man who is the mastermind behind arranging marriages requested by the clients. Though Kim has taken lead roles before, this was harder than his previous jobs, he said.
"I felt more pressure. Now I think of it, I didn't have to take that much responsible all by myself, but that's how much I wanted to do well. So I poured in so much energy and time to better express my character," he said.
In the TV series, he is skeptical about romance but as he falls in love with Gae-Ddong, he realizes what love means. To deliver such delicate emotions he put in tremendous effort into every detail, even into the changes made by slight changes in expression.
"I studied what faces cold and sensitive people would make and tried to show how Ma-hoon changed after meeting Gae-Ddong, through distinguishing the looks and faces he would make."
Despite the effort and hard work he put into the series, he said he does not feel fully satisfied. "I barely tell myself that I did a good job because I'm pretty harsh on myself."
He expressed that he still had "what ifs" in playing his character, such as if his character was less serious than he expressed. "My actual personality is somewhat similar (to the character) but not as serious. So I would think my character could've been more relatable if I added in more sides of my personality in it."
After he wrapped up the drama a couple of weeks ago, he barely took a break before starting to shoot the second season of the 2016 hit drama "Dr. Romantic," starring veteran actor Han Suk-kyu. The series is scheduled to go on air next January.
The transition from a period to modern-day series in a short period was hard and confusing, he expressed. "After having the tone and accent (of a period character) for over six months, they would come out when I'm reading lines for Dr. Romantic." But he added he even enjoys that as he was thrilled to work on this piece.
Kim took the same character ― nurse Park Eun-tak ― he played three years ago. He noted that he is excited to apply what he has learned since the first season.
"For season 1, I was clueless and was just ready to learn anything that goes on during shooting. But after three years, I want to experiment with the thing I've learned using the know-how I gained," he said.
Before he debuted as an actor, he was a trainee to become a singer for about four years. He noted that his interest in music has continued to this day.
"I don't have much interest in debuting as a singer since I think it takes a lot of time and practice to be on stage," he noted, adding that he plays piano and writes songs at home as a hobby.