Cha Eun-woo "My way is to achieve things step by step"

“‘Island’ was a work where I tried something new both in terms of genre and character. I had a strong desire to do it.”

Cha Eun-woo, who has mainly portrayed noble characters, gave a strong performance in the role of an exorcist in TVING's original series 'Island'. The story of ‘Ireland’, which finished Part 1 last month, continues with Part 2. 'Ireland' is a drama depicting the journey of characters who are destined to fight against evil that seeks to destroy the world, and is based on the comic/webtoon of the same name. Cha Eun-woo played the role of John, the youngest exorcist in the Vatican. Through ‘Island’, Cha Eun-woo attempted action acting for the first time since his debut. Not only did Cha Eun-woo attend action school to learn action, but he also personally thought about and created Yohan's own movements to perform the exorcism ritual. Cha Eun-woo expressed his joy, saying, “The director said it was okay, and the CG team leader also said it was good, saying that better scenes could be created with CG technology.”

“I collaborated a lot with the martial arts director and the martial arts team and learned action scenes. When Yohan performs an exorcism, his main weapon is a sword, and I practiced how to use the sword. Even before filming began, I went to action school and practiced whenever I had time. Martial arts The director also gave me a rubber sword. While waiting on set, I practiced with the rubber sword and learned martial arts skills so I wouldn't forget them."

Cha Eun-woo decided to appear in 'Island' not only because he was motivated by a challenge, but also because he wanted to act with good seniors. Cha Eun-woo said, "I wanted to see and learn how seniors such as Kim Nam-gil and Da-hee Lee approach their works and characters, how they create them on set, and how they communicate and work with the staff. As I felt and watched them directly and indirectly, I was influenced positively by my seniors without realizing it, and I was influenced by them in acting. “It seems like both internal and external factors have accumulated,” he said. In particular, regarding Kim Nam-gil, he said, "Before I joined, Nam-gil contacted me separately. He said, 'Eunwoo, let's trust you and give it a try.'"

"Nam-gil is very playful. But when he goes into rehearsal, he immediately immerses himself in the character. When he starts filming, he becomes even more immersed. It was fascinating and surprising. He said, 'Let's do it by referring to the animation,' so we thought about the action scenes together. Accommodation “It was near the province, so we talked about the scenes we filmed that day.”

Through this series, Cha Eun-woo is receiving both evaluations that 'the appearance was refreshing and different from before' and 'still lacking'. Regarding the favorable reviews, Cha Eun-woo said, "I feel proud. I think I've done my best at each time and as the nutrients and experience have accumulated, I've increased what I can express." Regarding the harsh criticism, "I accept it humbly and think that I just need to do better. I have done the best I can, both in the past and now. Rather than thinking that I am trapped or blocked somewhere, I believe in what I can do well and what I have accumulated within me. “I think I just need to express myself as much as possible. I try to accumulate good nutrients,” he said.

Cha Eun-woo is considered a handsome star to the extent that there are sayings like 'Choi Choi Cha-cha' and 'Choi Ae is Choi Ae and Cha Eun-woo is Cha Eun-woo.' Cha Eun-woo, who had a decent appearance and excellent grades in school, has the image of being 'perfect'. How does Cha Eun-woo control his mind amidst an image that may seem burdensome?

Cha Eun-woo said, "As humans, of course there are times when we are tired or tired. There are many times when we feel sad. However, at those times, there are many people around us who we are grateful to who approach us first. We eat delicious food with the people around us and talk about our inner thoughts to relieve our feelings. People around us." “The influence of good people is great,” he confessed. Cha Eun-woo also said, "I save and watch acceptance speech videos from various awards ceremonies on YouTube. I tend to look for and save videos of not only other actors and Korean actors, but also foreign actors." Regarding the reason, he said, "When I see that, it makes me want to work hard again. It's like my own (mind control) routine."

Cha Eun-woo did not have any grand plans for the future. However, he emphasized that he just does his best with everything given to him.

“You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Haha. I haven’t thought about anything specifically, but for now, I hope Part 2 of ‘Island’ does well. As an entertainer, I also have greed. If I build up step by step, I think I will be somewhere someday. Where. If I set a goal of where I want to go or what I want to become, I tend to get tired. I feel proud when I accomplish each task well that I am currently in charge of. When I progress like that, many people say, 'This guy is okay, he's cool.' “I think you will be proud if you see it.”

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