Interview with Kim Taek as Hong Soon-gyu in the movie ‘Rebound’
Actor Kim Taek expressed his feelings about working with director Jang Hang-jun in his screen debut, 'Rebound'.
On April 7th, I met with Kim Taek, who played the role of Hong Soon-gyu in the movie 'Rebound' (directed by Jang Hang-jun), at the Ten Asia headquarters in Jungnim-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul.
'Rebound' is a miraculous story of 8 days during the 2012 National High School Basketball Tournament, when a new coach and 6 players of the weakest basketball team that no one paid attention to ran tirelessly. It was created based on the true story of Busan Jungang High School's success in the 2012 Korea Basketball Association National Middle and High School Basketball Tournament.
Hong Soon-gyu, played by Kim Taek, is a former soccer player with a strong jumping ability. He wanted to become a soccer player like Zlatan, but thanks to his physique that is perfectly suited to basketball, he catches the eye of coach Kang Yang-hyeon (played by Ahn Jae-hong) and unexpectedly joins the basketball team.
Kim Taek debuted in the 2021 drama ‘Yeonmo’. For him, ‘Rebound’ is his screen debut. Kim Taek's expression was bright when I met him after the release of 'Rebound'. He said, "I'm excited. I can confidently say that I won't regret watching our movie 'Rebound'."
He continued, "Actually, before I watched the movie, I asked my parents to look at it from the perspective of the audience, not because it's a movie about their son. As director Jang Hang-jun said, I come out damaged. I come out ugly. (Laughs) My mother also saw the movie and said, 'Taek, why? He said, ‘Are you this ugly?’ My older sister said, ‘You’re really ugly.’ My father said, ‘You looked good,’” he added.
Since his screen debut, Kim Taek has been working with director Jang Hang-jun, a very famous director. According to director Jang Hang-jun, there were about 400 actors who participated in the 'Rebound' audition. Director Jang Hang-jun said, “They had to be good at acting and good at basketball, but the actors’ height, weight, and style were important factors in casting.”
Kim Taek is actually a former basketball player. With a height of 192 cm, he played for Whimoon High School and Chung-Ang University. However, although he entered Chung-Ang University as a freshman in the class of '18, he quit his playing career due to chronic injuries. I had no choice but to give up my dream of becoming a ‘professional basketball player.’ He said, "I have had chronic knee and back injuries since high school. I spent a lot of time rehabilitating. As I spent a lot of time on treatment, the injuries were very difficult, and I thought, 'I will never shine as a player.' “I gave up exercising,” he said.
Kim Taek wrote his own profile in an interview with the Chung-Ang University Sports Team in 2018. At the time, when asked, ‘What if I hadn’t played basketball?’ he answered, “I would have tried to be a model or an actor.” Kim Taek said, "I thought the job was cool. I only worked out since I was a teenager, so I only looked at athletes and couldn't see the rest of the world. Although I was interested in becoming a model and actor, it wasn't my dream. After I quit working out, I entered a modeling academy. “I went to see him, and while working part-time at a fitting, I naturally came into contact with acting,” he explained.
Kim Taek participated in the ‘Rebound’ audition. Because he was a former basketball player, the first audition was conducted via video rather than in person. Kim Taek said, "At first I heard that the 'Rebound' audition was held in an actual gym. I heard that the first audition only looked at basketball skills, not acting. Since I am a former player, I edited the game video from my time as a player and sent the video. Basketball. "My skills were verified. I auditioned face-to-face starting from the second audition. I auditioned a total of four times. I got to meet director Jang Hang-jun three times at the audition room," he recalled at the time.
Kim Taek said, "Director Jang Hang-jun gave me a lot of praise and said he liked it. He first gave me the script for Soon-gyu and asked me to read it, so I read it. After seeing my acting, he said, 'I think it's good.' I went prepared for the third audition. . I didn't know it was okay until then. It turned out that the director had already decided on casting me in his mind. After hearing that we were going to be together, the director said to me, 'Taek, you may have to mess up,' and I said, 'You can do it as much as you want.' I said, ‘I can do it.’ He asked, ‘Is it okay if I cut my hair really short and look ugly?’ I said, ‘It’s okay.’ After talking a lot with the director, I gradually got closer to Soon-gyu,” he explained.
Kim Taek quit playing basketball, but got back on the court again through his first movie. He said, "I put an end to my goal of becoming a basketball player, which I had dreamed of since I was young, and started living my life as an actor. The audition for 'Rebound' was strange, but in some ways, I thought it was a true blessing. I thought it was a God-given opportunity. I desperately wanted this movie. “I wanted to participate. From my perspective, you don’t know unless the director confirms, ‘We should do this together.’ I was with my mother when I heard the news of my acceptance, and I hugged her and rejoiced together.”
Kim Taek expressed his affection for director Jang Hang-jun, calling him his ‘father.’ He said, "I always say this, but the director was like a father. He took great care of me both on and off the field. He personally provided me with nutritional supplements, proteins, vitamins, etc. He also bought me a lot of delicious food. The best thing was that I was able to focus on Soon-gyu. "He gave us directing. When directing, the director can speak through the microphone, but he came next to me and spoke directly. Also, the director worked as hard as we did on set. He did his best for each and every one of us."
Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr