Actor Oh Dae-hwan's first screen lead role in 'The Devil'

Actor Oh Dae-hwan took on his first screen lead role after 20 years of debut. Instead of the title of 'first screen lead', we could get a glimpse of Oh Dae-hwan, an honest 'father of many children'.

When we met him on the 27th at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and asked him about his debut as a leading actor in 20 years, he calmly confessed his feelings, saying that there was no big difference from before.

"It's a job I've always done, so I shot a long scene unlike before? I didn't think 'I have to do well because it's my first lead role'. Of course, the sense of responsibility was different."

Oh Dae-hwan debuted in 2004 with a small role in the movie 'Bridal Lesson', starting with Detective Wang in the movie 'Veteran', OCN '38 Swindlers' Ma Jin-seok, MBC 'Red Sleeves' Kang Tae-ho, OCN 'Life on Mars' Lee Yong-ki. Conversely, he showed his presence by taking a snow stamp on the public as a 'luxurious supporting actor', and faced the audience as his first screen lead in the 2023 movie 'Devils'.

Oh Dae-hwan played the role of Jae-hwan, a detective who appeared as the face of a murderer in the play. It must have been difficult to play two roles in one person with the material of 'body change'.

“When the three of us, the director and (Jang) Dong-yoon, changed bodies, I thought a lot about ‘what should I do?’. I thought it was comfortable acting.’ Even though my body changes, I tried to express my own voice so that I don’t lose my color.”

He honestly told an anecdote that he was very worried when he first received the script for 'Devils'.

“(Director Kim Jae-hoon) said that he would like me to do ‘Devils. Doing the 'face-off' genre on a low budget?' I was worried while reading it, but after reading it, it was really fun. Later, I said I would be more active

'Demons' is a 'low-budget' work that was filmed in just 28 episodes, less than two months in total. At the premiere, actors such as Oh Dae-hwan, Jang Dong-yoon, Choi Gwi-hwa, Jang Jae-ho, and director Kim Jae-hoon, who starred in 'Devils', all expressed their feelings in unison, saying, "It was fierce."

"I was filming all four works at the same time, and (Jang) Dong-yoon would have filmed all three of them at the same time. When everyone arrived at the scene, they seemed to be filming in a zombie state. I was physically exhausted to the point of asking, 'Are you okay?' So even if I wasn't angry, I was still angry, so I was able to naturally become 'Rehwan'," he said with a smile.

Oh Dae-hwan also confessed that there are scenes that are regrettable in filming, which can only be done under tight deadlines and within the given budget.

“I only took one shot of the crying scene in Majang-dong. (Perhaps) It’s an important scene for me. I had to film it quickly because of the production cost because the sun was going down, so I prepared it while looking at pictures of my late father and listening to sad music. I wanted to do more, so the moment I was about to tell the director, the lighting settings were all removed."

He said, "It was a movie that came out really well even though it was progressed in a hurry. There are many shortcomings and regrets, but I think that it is a movie that will be praised for coming out with this quality. I didn't forget to thank the staff.

Oh Dae-hwan became an 'honorary police officer' for his work in MBC every1's 'Rural Police'. In this movie as well, I asked him if he had a role he wanted to play as 'Jae-hwan', a detective chasing the heinous murderer 'Jin-hyeok'.

“I want to play a vicious villain with no story and no narrative like Jin-hyeok in ‘Devils. I want to play the role of Kim Myeong-gil, a vicious loan shark in ‘Hounds’.”

He continued, "I aim for a role that is common in everyday life. I like my dad, I like the neighborhood type, and I like the rural youth. It's similar to my personality."

Oh Dae-hwan is also a 'multi-headed father' with 3 sons and 1 daughter. He expressed his affection by saying that he had gone on a family trip earlier this year, but also frankly confessed the difficulties he had experienced because of the large number of people.

“I plan to go on a family trip a lot when I’m resting. I rented a camper and went on a trip a while ago. .(laugh)"

Then, he said, "I have to work before my youngest son goes to college. I have 12 years left." He said, "I've been interested in my health lately. D. You must have seen it yesterday. My forearms are the size of my face. So, let's arm wrestle, but I won. I can't win because I'm born with it."

Although he was proud of his innate stamina, he said that he was envious of Jang Dong-yoon's stamina while filming.

"It was really tiring physically and mentally because of the accumulated fatigue during the filming. (Jang) Dong-yoon must have felt the same. I almost had my lungs burst when Santa was filming the scene. The two of us came in the morning wandering around, but Dong-yoon was running so well. I was envious enough to ask, ‘Can you run a little slower?’ Dong-yoon said he would understand, but he changed as soon as the shot went in. The kid who seemed to be having a hard time ran like a horse, so I couldn’t follow him to the point where he couldn’t be included in the angle.”

20 years since his debut, he might be greedy for his first screen lead role, but Oh Dae-hwan did not even ask for a common 'watching'. He confessed his feelings openly, saying, "It's difficult to ask you to look at it honestly."

"('Demons') is a difficult movie to watch visually. So I can't tell you to watch it. I haven't done a serious acting recently. I want to be able to meet another Oh Dae-hwan."

'Devils' is a body-changing action thriller film depicting the confrontation between a rare murderer, Jin-hyeok, and detective Jae-hwan, who switch bodies the moment they are arrested.

It will be released on July 5th.

Reporter Kim Se-ah, Ten Asia haesmik@tenasia.co.kr