No easy time for actors playing villains in Korean drama Cruel Temptation

BADDIES had a hard time in the Korean drama Cruel Temptation.Not only did they have to memorise difficult lines, they had to cry buckets too. And that's before they got dunked into icy waters.

Actor Byun Woo Min, 44, is the cheating husband who tries to kill his wife, played by Jang Seo Hee. His partner-in-crime is his onscreen lover, played by Kim Seo Hyung, 33.

When U-Weekly met up with Woo Min and Seo Hyung in Seoul last month, both said their roles as indecent lovers were very challenging.

Woo Min said: 'There's lots of yelling and quarrelling in the show.'

He added that they had a hectic filming schedule - six days of shooting per week for this 129-episode series - but watching the drama would be a breeze.

'It has a fast-paced storyline. So it's like watching a movie.'

Strange as it may sound, their characters cry a lot in the drama, although they are the ones hurting people around them.

Said Woo Min: 'I had to wail three times in one scene. That's really draining.'

Seo Hyung agreed: 'It's very taxing, both physically and emotionally, to act as an evil person.'

Both agreed they couldn't learn how to be a crook from each other because they are nice people, really.

But they still managed to help each other understand their roles better, and became as close as siblings during filming.

Physically demanding

The drama's ending was the most physically demanding scene, where Woo Min's and Seo Hyung's characters go out to the sea.

'The water temperature was only 13 deg C. And we had to shoot the fighting scene in the icy waters for six hours,' said Woo Min.

Be sure not to miss the twist at the end, said Seo Hyung. 'Although my character starts out as a baddie, she becomes a nice person eventually.

'That's the ending the scriptwriter promised me, and the audiences must not miss it,' she added with a laugh.

Still, filming was tough. When shooting wrapped for Cruel Temptation, Seo Hyung took a break from work for three months.

Don't mistake her as a drama novice though.

She entered showbiz in 1994 and played Sunshine Ha in the 2005 Korean hit drama Be Strong, Geum Soon!.

Woo Min - who appeared in the Korean film Wedding Story and the drama Jazz - will be in town this Wednesday to promote Cruel Temptation, which ended its run in Korea in May.

It premieres over Channel U on 19 Nov at 7pm.


The New Paper