'Casino' Choi Min-sik "Lee Dong-hwi didn't listen, but he was like a lovely puppy"

Choi Min-sik of ‘Casino’ said he was deeply impressed by the professionalism of his juniors.

On the 24th, I met actor Choi Min-sik, who appeared in Disney+'s 'Casino', at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Seoul. Choi Min-sik played the role of Cha Moo-sik, who lived a life full of ups and downs, starting from the bottom and rising to the position of 'casino legend' that no one can easily touch.

Cha Mu-sik, who does not deeply trust people, is generous to Yang Jeong-pal (Lee Dong-hwi), who is like his own limbs. Choi Min-sik said, "One of the attributes of a person in power is managing his or her people. There is something like, 'You are mine. You must not betray. You are my limbs.' I added one more thing and thought that those limbs were valuable. "There is that kind of heartlessness. However, in the case of Jeong-pal, he is a younger brother whom you instinctively want to take care of." He then laughed, saying, "It may be an extreme expression, but he's like a puppy. He's so adorable. A kid who won't listen to you but you can't abandon him, a hand like that, a card like that, isn't there such a thing?"

When asked if he had thought about the reason why Yang Jeong-palman tried to take care of him until the end, Choi Min-sik replied, "That was a dilemma for me too." He continued, "I asked Director Kang, 'Why are you so pretty when you're so merciless toward other kids?' and he actually questioned me back." He continued, "I guess I feel like a child who doesn't listen. Aren't there people who are pretty without giving anything and there are people who don't give anything and are hateful?" He said. He said, "Even in the harsh world of 'Casino', we decided to make it feel like we were neighborhood brothers. Dong-hwi supported us well. We had a close relationship with each other."

When asked if he had pre-arranged the ad-libs, Choi Min-sik said, "No, I did it like jazz. 'I'll do what I want to do, so you can say what you want too.' It's an ad-lib based on Cha Mu-sik and Yang Jeong-pal, and it's full of it. It wasn't just trying to be funny, nor did it deviate from the character. It's difficult if you get out of it. “Isn’t it possible to come up with better variations within the boundaries?”

Choi Min-sik said, "It was a long time since we had worked together for a long time together. At first, I thought all the actors who participated in this work, big or small, including Seok-gu Son, Dong-hwi Lee, and Seong-tae Heo, were studying for the exam. They were stuck in the corner of the room and wouldn't come out. I thought they were drinking because they were gathered together. They were having a meeting with the script spread out. ‘Have you taken the test?’ “It was like that,” he said, expressing how his juniors were eager to study the script. He continued, "At times, we received criticism from viewers that the probability was low, but we did our best. We tried to fill in the gaps. We felt that our efforts were not in vain. That was really good."

'Casino' is the story of Cha Moo-sik (played by Choi Min-sik), a casino legend, who faces a crisis and begins to make the last bet of his life against the persistent pursuit of Korean Desk Oh Seung-hoon (played by Son Seok-gu). The last episode of Season 2 was released on the 22nd.

Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr