Recently, I had an interview with actor Shin Jae-ha, whom I met at a cafe in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, at the end of the SBS Friday-Saturday drama 'Model Taxi 2'.
'Model Taxi 2' is a story about members of the mysterious taxi company Rainbow Transportation taking revenge on behalf of wronged victims. In the play, Shin Jae-ha plays the role of On Ha-jun, a villain who pretends to be an innocent new Rainbow Transportation engineer and intentionally approaches Rainbow Transportation and commits numerous evil deeds without hesitation.
'Model Taxi' is SBS's most successful series, recording a peak viewership rating of 16% in Season 1 and 21% in Season 2. Shin Jae-ha, who joined the cast in Season 2, confessed that he felt pressured about taking on the role of a villain. "From the beginning, I knew that the character Ha-jun was employed at Rainbow Transportation with a different purpose. He added, "The character Ha-jun On himself quickly rose to the second-in-command position in a large criminal organization and is a character who has never failed. . Infiltrating Rainbow Transportation also made me wonder, ‘Why are these people harassing my affiliates?’ It was a curiosity. The line he said to Kim Do-gi (Lee Je-hoon) about wanting to be his friend was also sincere. ‘Are you a very interesting person? “I thought it was like, ‘Let’s be friends,’” he explained.
Shin Jae-ha said he gritted his teeth and worked out to build his body for the upper body exposure scene. He said, "I'm not in good shape. I'm not the type to grow a lot. So, while I was in the military, I tried to build up my body, and actually gained quite a lot of weight. I gritted my teeth and did it, but I was so disappointed. I thought my body was really miserable. My upper body. "I had to manage my diet for two months for the exposure scene, and even though I was busy, I exercised early in the morning and worked hard, but I wasn't satisfied. And Jehoon was so embarrassed because he was in such good shape," he said.
Shin Jae-ha filmed ‘Ilta Scandal’ at the same time as ‘Model Taxi 2’. Shin Jae-ha played the role of Ji Dong-hee, the main director of the institute of Ilta instructor Choi Chi-yeol (played by Jeong Kyung-ho) in 'One-hit Scandal', and gave a passionate performance that went back and forth between the dandy and soft charm of Chief Ji and the real culprit of the iron ball serial murder case.
He said, "The start and end dates of filming for both works were almost the same. We filmed for 7 months at the same time and finished just two days apart. I started the film expecting that it would be physically difficult, but my stamina was very strained in the latter half of the film."
Coincidentally, Shin Jae-ha, who played a villain character with a twist in both works, said, "The schedule parts were coordinated in advance, so there was no need to go back and forth between the two works in one day. However, playing two villains made it physically difficult in the latter half of the work." "I couldn't help it. I filmed without a day off for the last two months, so I was mentally tired, so I lost a lot of weight. Even though I tried to maintain it by eating well, I lost it because I kept using my emotions," he said regretfully.
He continued, "During filming, I gritted my teeth and endured it. I couldn't even find time to maintain my physical strength. The filming of 'One-shot Scandal' and 'Model Taxi 2' wrapped in the first week of February, and I was in bed for the entire month of February. I suffered from shingles and the flu. “I think I was able to get through it with my mental strength. At first, I didn’t even know it was shingles, but I found blisters while I was washing up. Still, I think I’m fortunate that I was able to get through it without causing any damage for personal reasons until the end of the project.”
Taeyuna, Ten Asia Reporter youyou@tenasia.co.kr