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[In-depth] Gang Dong-won's efforts won't betray him

It's Gang Dong-won indeed.

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The movie "The Priests" succeeded in breaking through 1.79 million audiences in just 5 days of its release. According to the Korean Film Council, "The Priests" has a an accumulated number of 1,792,429. It's 1st in the Box Office without competition and in the middle of it all are Kim Yun-seok and the mysterious Gang Dong-won.

Putting a cope on Gang Dong-won is already enough to be praised as a perfect commercial movie. When he decided to star in "The Priests" and while Kim Yun-seok was already in the making, Kim said, "Gang Dong-won is trying on different copes" and female fans couldn't wait for the movie to be out. After a long wait, the result wasn't disappointing at all. There is no betrayal in Gang Dong-won's efforts on top of the cope.

The reason his good looks receive attention is because he is such a good actor as it is. It's easy for an audience to scowl at something they don't like. However, as sensitive as they are the actor of 13 years has put in so much effort into the movie that they can't deny him.

For this movie, Gang Dong-won studied Christian history. He spent 5 days with a priest and heard everything he could about status and identity. He is the kind to dig one kind of hole and it's just what an actor needs. The rookie producer, Gang Dong-won and Kim Yun-seok aimed only for "The Priests" and they are now being rewarded for their efforts.

Gang Dong-won had an interview recently and he described every single process of the making of "The Priests". There was neither lie nor exaggeration. He spoke only of what he saw and felt to a point where he looked holy even without the cope. He had a wide knowledge of the unfamiliar topics of religion and ceremonies.

Gang Dong-won said, "I'm sure the producer did more research than me, but as the actor I felt that I had to become familiar with these subjects, so I began studying. I think an actor should be able to convince the audience or serial events and that brings out a more natural act".

One thing that many are curious about is the exorcism. To the question, 'To what extent is exorcism a reality?', Gang Dong-won answered, "I get that question a lot. To tell you the result, the Vatican approved of 300 exorcisms held in over 70 countries last year. So it's true. Looking at the worldwide trend, America is most interested in it and some people even go to Rome to be educated. I don't know if they would approve of Korea though (laughs)".

"Some say that the exorcism in our movie is too similar to those in foreign movies. The subject limits us. However, we did think about that and so we tried to express it differently. The formality might be similar but "The Priests" simplified it the most. Thankfully, no one has really said our movie was difficult to understand".

"I spent 5 days with a priest. I wanted to stay longer but that would have been an interference to him. For the 5 days we spent all night talking and went to bed, then got up again and talked some more. Those images of priests I saw through media looked quite set-up, but as I spoke to him, I felt more and more purified. It was as if I was talking to an ascetic. I learned a lot in various ways. I tried to bring in that image of the priest to the movie as much as I could".

His efforts stood out indeed. In the movie, Gang Dong-won manages to speak Korean, Latin, Italian, German and Chinese. The scene where he appears from the mist singing the gospel in his sexy voice, can be highlighted as the most heart-stopping scene ever. Many said they almost became Catholics because of him.

Gang Dong-won said, "Apparently priests learn 7 languages at the seminary. Language is mastered during the early stages which is the most difficult stage of all. I never thought the priest would be a bookworm. I thought he only had deep faith for God. However, you can't do this without studying hard. You won't even get in the seminary. It takes 10 years to complete a course. It takes longer than medical school so I don't dare try it".

"You need a tremendous amount of sacrifice. I wondered if it was even possible for a human to do this. Something really got to me once and I was very curious about the reason people go to priests to confess. They can't always talk about the good things. There are worries and concerns and maybe even secrets. However, the priests can never leak this information to anyone. Even to the police and even to those who threaten them with their lives. I asked the priest how he does it and he said, 'I'm just someone who lends an ear'". Everything was clear after that".

Gang Dong-won succeeded in making the pig come onto his side. Don Don's scene ended with him crying in Gang Dong-won's arms. It had just been a couple of months old when they first met, but in the end it had gotten twice as big. "He was heavy, smelly and disobedient". However, the pig liked Gang Dong-won the most.

Gang Dong-won said, "The pig really didn't listen to anything. He did everything the opposite to what I asked him. He would give in every now and then but only if we attracted him with snacks. He is a haughty pig. The pig I held onto was only a replica model of the real pig. One of the staff would control it with a remote outside of the camera but we turned it off for most of the time. I would move the model pig's neck by force and yell at it to 'keep still'. I put on a one-man-show".

The result of his efforts comes from the reactions of people who have watched the movie. I wish it succeeds in Korea. I can't help it but expect there to be a lot of audiences as it is a commercial movie. I also wonder what Europe would think about this movie".

"The Priests" is the story of two priests who struggle against mysterious events to save a girl in danger.

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