Cha Tae-hyun, pure joy without envy or jealousy

Simple and comfortable. There is no back-and-forth or measurement. He possessed a pleasant level of innocence. Above all, it is good. This is actor Cha Tae-hyun (46).

On the morning of the 16th, Cha Tae-hyun was interviewed about the movie 'Puppy' (directed by Kim Joo-hwan) at a cafe in Sogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. 'Puppy' is a work that tells the story of cousins Minsu (played by Yoo Yeon-seok) and Jin-guk (played by Cha Tae-hyun) who unexpectedly meet each other while on a journey to find the perfect owner for their dog Rooney.

Cha Tae-hyun played the role of Jin-guk and gave a great performance. Regarding 'Puppy', which has been around for about two years, he said, "I thought it would never be released, but I'm glad it came out like this," and added, "It's been a long time since I've had an interview like this, so I'm happy."

It's been a long time since I've had a dog, and I don't have a lot of affection for dogs, but thanks to my experience raising a dog as a child, acting wasn't difficult.

"I used to raise a Schnauzer for a long time. I raised it for three generations. I tried to get a puppy, but I always felt sorry because I raised it when there was no one at home. It's not like I can take it for a walk every time, so I shouldn't raise it unless I'm in that situation. I thought about it. After I got married, I had a child and couldn't raise one. It's been a long time since I couldn't raise a dog. I have three kids. Haha, I'm not much of a pet owner, but I have experience raising one in the past, so acting wasn't difficult."

The reason I appeared in ‘Puppy’ was ‘people’. I felt positive about being able to work with actor Yoo Yeon-seok, who I had worked with in the past drama 'General Hospital 2'. He said, "It was one of the reasons I chose to appear. I knew that (Yoo) Yeon-seok was a really good person, so I thought it would be fun." He continued, "I met Yoo Yeon-seok on 'General Hospital 2', and after things got better, I met him. “I feel very proud of this child even though I didn’t raise him,” he said with a smile.

“This is the best feeling. When I work with a new director or new actors, I am so happy when the work does well in the future. ‘Speed Scandal’ is like that. That director is so good that I don’t even use him now, but I like it. It's not bad, it's really good. Sometimes I go to the screening and see the director of 'Speed Scandal' and it's nice, and I have nothing to say about (Park) Bo-young. (Yoo) Yeon-seok is the same way. Now that Yeon-seok is doing well, his name is before mine. “It’s fun and enjoyable to work on a movie together.”

Because it was Cha Tae-hyun, these words struck me clearly. It was pure joy and pleasure without envy or jealousy. This was the secret to Cha Tae-hyun being Cha Tae-hyun and being able to firmly maintain his position. Cha Tae-hyun was happy about his junior's success as if it were his own business. This look was really warm.

Cha Tae-hyun also praised director Kim Joo-hwan. Cha Tae-hyun, who said, “I really liked the director,” said, “I watched ‘Youth Police’ well. My next work is ‘Lion,’ and don’t the two works fit together so well? I thought, ‘What on earth is this?’ “I was curious about how it would come out if I filmed something like this, and I thought, ‘You must have this kind of talent,’” he said.

"Director Kim's next film seems to be 'Hounds of the Wild', and it's something like 'Lion'. So he seems to be good at that kind of thing, but I also thought, 'What is this work? Is it time to take a break in the middle?' Haha! But when I looked at the script, I thought, There was a clear message, and the words 'I dedicate it to OO', written with my dog's name, touched me. And the fact that this was being invested again made me think, 'He is not an ordinary person.' I thought he could be seen as a genius. 'Lion' is ' It wasn't as good as 'Young Police', but I think it's definitely a genius department. 'What is it?' This is what I think."

Cha Tae-hyun then shared the behind-the-scenes story of filming with Yoo Yeon-seok as if they were happily traveling. He said, “The filming set was centered around the doggies, so we didn’t have time to think about the chemistry between the two of us.” He added, “But we had fun together the most on the set.”

"We were on location for over a week. We filmed the journey from Seoul to Jeju Island sequentially as if we were traveling. We took a boat from Mokpo. There was a golf course somewhere in Mokpo, so we went to play golf and took pictures while having fun. It's hard to film like this, but we had fun. “We filmed it, and the director prepared so thoroughly that it didn’t go overboard and the filming was completed on time.”

Cha Tae-hyun also said that the condition of the dogs was managed really well. “There are containers with air conditioners, and it is the first time I have seen dogs taken care of so well. If they look like they are struggling a little, we let them rest right away, and when that happens, we quickly take pictures,” he said. “People take pictures when the dogs are resting.” He praised me again, "I focused on what I was doing. I chose and focused well. If you look at the fact that the overall schedule was filmed without going overboard, the director is not an ordinary person."

Cha Tae-hyun, who started by saying, “The puppies acted well,” explained, “I guess the audience didn’t just listen to my lines, they watched these kids. I mainly filmed the dogs and they acted naturally. The people’s acting came second.” In particular, regarding the scene where dogs lick their faces, he said, "I put a lot of condensed milk on it. That's how the kids came. I think 'It looks like you've put on moisturizing cream' was an ad-lib for some reason," he said, laughing.

Regarding Cha Tae-hyun's tears at Yoo Yeon-seok at the preview, he said, "Yesterday, (Yoo) Yeon-seok was crying next to me and I was like, 'What is this?' “But it would definitely feel different if you were raising a dog. When raising a child, there are times when something related to the child comes out of nowhere and has a completely unexpected resonance.” “My son is already in his first year of high school,” he said with a smile.

He continued, "Su-chan is already a freshman in high school, and has passed puberty. Recently, a very precious photo was released of Soo-chan at her graduation ceremony. There is a photo of her with a smiling face, and it is a truly precious photo." She added, "I now have daughters in 6th and 4th grade, and they are slowly getting older. He said, “Puberty will come. They say it’s different from a son and a daughter, so I’ll give it a try.”

Cha Tae-hyun is famously close friends with a total of 5 friends including himself, Kim Jong-kook, Jang Hyuk, Hong Kyung-min, and Hong Kyung-in. We also talked about the so-called ‘Dragon Club’ and the project of filming an entertainment show.

"We have to do it now. We've talked about it all and are preparing. The date hasn't been set yet, but we've been talking so much, so I think we'll have to do it. It takes a certain amount of broadcasting before we can make up our minds in detail, but we can't just talk about it. . It's being fleshed out, and we plan to film in the first half of the year. There was talk about the concept of camping on horseback in 'Jimjongguk', and we're talking about that. 'I'm riding a horse.'"

When asked who is the leader of the Dragon Club, Cha Tae-hyun drew attention by saying, "They don't say who does it, but they say it's me." He said, "There are people who only talk about useless things, there are children who don't move when asked to do something, there are children who want to do anything, and there are children who just hang out. There are many types. In the end, in order to mediate there, either me or Jong-kook has to talk, but Jong-kook can do his own thing. “It’s a lot, and since I don’t use YouTube or Instagram, I have time to spare,” he explained.

Cha Tae-hyun appeared in the Disney+ series 'Moving', which is scheduled to be released this year. He mentioned ‘Moving’, saying, “There are things coming out this year.” Cha Tae-hyun smiled and said, “Let’s meet again then. I’m sure (Jo) In-seong will work hard at that time.”

During the interview, Cha Tae-hyun said, "It hasn't changed at all since 'My Sassy Girl'," and when someone praised her youthful appearance, she joked, "Oh, I'm just thankful to my parents." Cha Tae-hyun does not change not only his appearance but also his kind heart.

‘Puppy’ will be released on March 1st.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr