Song Seung Heon

Have you slept? They say My Princess‘s schedule was murder.
We filmed the last episode until 6pm the day it aired and then went
straight to the wrap party. I didn’t drink very much, but I totally
crashed. I think I was just so tired. My manager put me in the car and
drove me home, and then said it took an hour to wake me up once we got
there. And then I finally opened my eyes at 7 this morning. I don’t know
if it’s because I slept so little for two months, but I couldn’t sleep
for very long. I didn’t see the last episode because of the wrap party,
so I woke up and watched it.
How do you feel about it now that it’s over? Any regrets?
Honestly, there were times during the shoot when I really thought we
weren’t going to make it to air with that episode. The schedule was that
unbelievable. I’m just relieved we finished in one piece. Of course
there are things I regret. But the genre and the character were fun. I
think any experience in the end makes me who I am.

Why did you choose a romantic comedy now, and why did you wait till now to do one?
With the drama East of Eden and the film Invincible,
I was doing a lot of heavier projects, and I kept hearing from people
that they missed the ‘Unfunny Song Seung-heon’ from my debut days, in
the sitcom Three Men, Three Women. And then this project came
in. Episodes 1-4 were already written, and they were really funny. But
then I didn’t know that starting with Episode 5, the scripts would start
coming in late. (Laughs) Why didn’t I do a romantic comedy earlier?
When I was younger I wanted to look cool. Back then, more than a happy
ending, I wanted to do projects that had a resonance.
What’s it like now that you’ve tried a romantic comedy? A lot of people are saying that you’ve ‘found your clothes.’
I’m always putting on a serious face, with heavy acting, so this time
I got to have fun. It really felt like I just came to play. The
schedule was hard, but the acting itself was really fun. I’m always
playing roles where I’m trying to look cool while carrying the weight of
the world on my shoulders, but I didn’t have to do that for this role
so I liked that. (Laughs) If I have the chance, I’d like to try a
romantic comedy movie as well.

You’ve never had so many cutesy love scenes as you did here. Could it be that you really fell in love with Kim Tae-hee?
If you see it that way, that means we acted really well. (Laughs) I
just shot it comfortably like we were really dating. Park Hae-young’s
childish and playful side is a lot like me. But when I’m dating, I’m
more aggressive than Park Hae-young, so his passive expressions of
affection became really frustrating for me. Park Hae-young was hesitant
to marry Lee Seol, but in real love, when would that happen? If it were
me, I would’ve said, ‘Let’s just run away.’
It’s great that you’ve found a role that fits your image so
perfectly, but is there any regret that you didn’t do this sort of genre
in your twenties, when Song Seung-heon was ‘prettier’? You’re now in
your mid-thirties. Do you feel older?
Honestly, I don’t. In our drama, Lee Ki-kwang is 22, and that
actually did surprise me, that he’s so young. But I still feel like I’m a
high school sophomore. It might be because I still hang out with the
same friends from that time, but if I look at the way my friends and I
play now and back then, it’s the same. (Laughs)
Even if you don’t feel your age, you must feel some change. What’s changed?
My approach to acting has changed. It happened since I came back from
the army. A sense of responsibility is something I feel more and more,
and I’m discovering a sense of enjoyment in new things. Before when I
received a script, I would just act it out like a machine. But now I
think about what else I could bring to the scene that isn’t written
there, and I have room to look past myself.
I’m not trying to make myself stand out anymore; I’ve learned the
importance of harmony. I learned I can’t just do things according to my
own ambition, but that fans should be able to watch and enjoy the
project. If before I did things to serve my own ambition or to appear
cool, now I think about what I can do for fans through this project.
I received letters from foreign fans who wrote that they came to know
Korea because of me, and it made me feel the effects of Hallyu. I don’t
think I thought about those things before. But now I think they instill
a sense of responsibility in me. I’m also having more fun. It’s not
just because it’s work anymore, but now I want to enjoy acting and have
fun. There’s still a lot of talk about my acting skills, but that’s just
something I have to work at, and aside from that, I’m discovering that
acting is fun and I’m learning to enjoy it.

Why weren’t you ambitious about your acting before?
When I was younger I never dreamed of being an actor. I was an
ordinary kid and became an ordinary college student. And then in 1995
someone who worked for a fashion label came into where I was working
part-time, and asked if I wanted to enter a modeling contest. And then
they picked me, and all of a sudden I was a model. Kim Sung-jae was the
main model and So Ji-sub and I were just starting, and then when Kim
Sung-jae died suddenly, somehow So Ji-sub and I became the main models.
And then after that, I came to do Three Men, Three Women.
Without any preparation. So I started without any ambition to feed, and I
got an enormous amount of criticism, saying that I couldn’t act. But
now it’s different. Now acting is the best I can do, and it’s a career
that I’ve invested more than ten years in. In my twenties, I just
thought, ‘This must be what I’m doing.’ But now I’ve come to think about
the fans and the public before myself.
Do you have any fears? Do you ever worry about losing popularity?
Ever since I was a newbie, I always had it drilled into my head not
to be attached to popularity. So I’m actually not the type to be
concerned with that too much. Of course, I’m human, so it’s better to be
popular than not, but it’s not like I could be a youth star forever.
While working on My Princess with Lee Soon-jae [who plays
Grandpa], I saw how passionate he was, even at his age, and it made me
want to become like him. I actually became ashamed of myself while
watching him. He spent his youth digging deep to learn his craft, but
I’ve never done that. I never dreamed of being an actor when I was
young. So now I’m full of regret that I didn’t do the same.

What do you do on your down time?
I go play with my friends or I exercise. I play golf. Now that I think about it, my life is kind of boring. (Laughs)
Any plans for marriage?
I really want to start a family. But that’s not so easy to do. I
don’t have a partner. Who knows, someday somebody I’ll love will
suddenly appear, and I might be talking about marriage.