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| Actor Son Ho-jun poses prior to an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of YG Entertainment |
By Park Jin-hai
Son Ho-jun, 33, shed many tears while shooting the recently finished romantic comedy "Couple on the Backtrack."
"Empathizing with Ban-do, I was in deep grief. Outwardly, he might look like a simple-minded person, but he is an ordinary hard-working husband and father for the sake of his family," he said during an interview with The Korea Times, at a cafe in Seoul, Wednesday.
"When he cries out his sorrow and regret that his wife could not stay at her mother's deathbed because of him and he says he too misses his mother-in-law, I was all in tears. He worked hard to be a responsible breadwinner, but he ended up making an unforgivable mistake and became estranged from his wife."
In the 12-part drama, Son took the lead character Choi Ban-do, a 38-year-old pharmaceutical company salesman, married to his university crush Ma Jin-joo, played by actress Jang Na-ra. Choi, once a fearless civil engineering university student, is now a breadwinner, who struggles to live under the heavy burden of making ends meet. Ma, a "campus queen," became a low self-esteemed housewife stuck with singlehandedly parenting a child.
The couple constantly fights and was on the verge of divorce. One day, they travel back to when they were twenty years old.
The KBS Monday-Tuesday drama, lacking adultery or controversy has succeeded in grabbing viewers' attention. The 12-part time-travel story exited with a record 7.3 percent viewership, topping the rate among the same time slot dramas.
"It is a story about family. Ban-do overlaps with our fathers you see around. Taking on the role, I happened to understand what fathers are. Like him, my father has neither said a word on what he has to deal with in his work place. He might have thought that if he looks weak, the whole family might crumble."
With "Couple on the Backtrack" the actor, who made a mark with 2013 hit drama "Reply 1994," has added another life project. In the drama, time-traveling and reliving university years are not all about fun. By telling heart-wrenching moments _ Ma meeting her dead mother again and the couple feeling the pain of absence of their baby son _ the drama deeply touched viewers' heart, highlighting the meaning of parenthood and marriage.
Asked about what he wants to do if he could time-travel to the past, Son said he wants to go back to his school years. "Since I was in high school, I've gotten engrossed in acting and have not looked back. When I was on stage, I loved the way the audience engages with actors: I act live so close to the audience that their breath can be heard, while they laugh and cry over what I said on stage," he said. "But, if I could re-live those years, I might try to study hard and see what else I can be."
The actor said he is not an "actor," yet. "A person can become an actor, only after viewers receive him as one. I don't think I'm an actor yet, but an actor -in-the making. When I'm asked about what kind of actor I want to be, I would say I want to be an actor, first," he said.
