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Do Kyung-soo embarks on a new challenge with 'The Moon'

Debuting with the movie 'Cart' (2014) nine years ago, Do Kyung-soo (30), a member of the popular group EXO, has now become an actor with a considerable acting history. He starred in films watched by 10 million people each, 'Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds' (2017), and 'Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days' (2018), and also took the lead role in the popular drama '100 Days My Prince' (2018). He is now embarking on a new challenge with 'The Moon' (released on 2nd), which we talked about when we met him at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 1st.

Do Kyung-soo played the role of Sun-woo, an astronaut who was stranded in space after embarking on lunar exploration in 'The Moon.' Provided by CJ ENM

'The Moon' tells the story of a domestic astronaut, Hwang Sun-woo (Do Kyung-soo), who becomes stranded on the moon due to an accident during a lunar exploration mission. The dramatic element is heightened as the stories of Jae-guk (Seol Kyung-gu), who tries to rescue Sun-woo from the earth, and Moon-young (Kim Hee-ae), a NASA executive, intersect. The pure production cost is 28.6 billion won. It's the highest budget among the Big 4 Korean movies this summer. A lot of money was spent to implement scenes such as launching a spaceship and exploring the moon on the screen. Several scenes were captured with 42 cameras being mobilized simultaneously. Efforts were put into every single prop. It took three months just to produce the lunar rover. The space scenes created with money and time present a look that could not be seen in previous Korean movies. Director Kim Yong-hwa of the 'Along with the Gods' series took the megaphone.

'The Moon' is the first tentpole movie in which Do Kyung-soo starred. Do Kyung-soo received the script while he was in military service. He reflected, "It was a film unlike anything produced in Korea, so it was very curious and interesting." There was no reason to refuse as he thought of director Kim Yong-hwa as a great person.

Do Kyung-soo said, "Both singing and acting are still fun," and said, "I plan to do both singing and acting with equal weight." Provided by SM Entertainment

Most of the shooting was done on wires. It's to the extent that he could say, "I performed almost all scenes hanging on wires, except for scenes where I stood on the ground." Do Kyung-soo was often hung on special wires that could move back and forth like curtain rods. It was for acting like swimming in a weightless state. Do Kyung-soo said, "If you lose strength in your core muscles, your body can flip over, and the timing of the people pulling the wires here and there was important." He added, "It was not easy to express delicate movements inside a narrow model spaceship wearing a space suit that weighs about 5-6kg." Do Kyung-soo also mentioned 'The Moon' and 'Swing Kids' (2018) as "the films to which I am most attached." He explained, "Because I put in the most effort in character building, such as learning tap dance ('Swing Kids') or focusing on wire acting."

Even though Seol Kyung-gu and Kim Hee-ae were listed as main actors, it was almost as if he acted alone. Except for a few scenes, Sun-woo is outside Earth. He filmed two short scenes with Seol Kyung-gu, and he never met Kim Hee-ae at the filming site. Do Kyung-soo said, "I'm sorry that I missed the opportunity to learn a lot by seeing the faces of senior actors who any actor would want to co-star with."

Do Kyung-soo expresses various emotions of an astronaut isolated on the moon with various expressions. His achievement stands out as he pulled off acting without the reactions of other actors. The evaluation of Do Kyung-soo's growth is already coming out in the film industry. However, Do Kyung-soo said, "There are so many flaws that I can't point them out." "I can see every expression in my eyes. I regret and regret why I acted like that."

By Ra Je-gi, Film Critic

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미디어1 (media@koreatimes.net)