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| Actor and singer Choi Min-ho plays the lead in Netflix's new original series "The Fabulous." Courtesy of Netflix |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Young adult romances and a coming-of-age story is what intrigued actor and singer Choi Min-ho, who is better known as Minho of K-pop group SHINee, to take part in Netflix's new original series "The Fabulous," he said.
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| Actor Choi Min-ho / Courtesy of Netflix |
Choi plays the character of Ji Woo-min, who is a photographer and a retoucher, working with designer brands and magazines. He used to date Ji-eun, but they became friends after breaking up. Despite their friendship, the two continue to have feelings for each other.
The actor, who previously starred in action films like "The Battle of Jangsari" and "Illang: The Wolf Brigade," said he wanted to be part of a romance series.
"So, I really wanted to do a romance genre," Choi said, explaining that he usually did works that were non-romance genres before he took time off for mandatory military service. "Especially as I'm in my 30s now, I wanted to show that I have this (romantic) side."
Woo-min has the looks and skills for his job, but he's rather dispassionate about his work or with love, including in his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Ji-eun. But as he realizes his feelings for her, he steps out of his comfort zone.
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| A scene from the series "The Fabulous" / Courtesy of Netflix |
Choi expressed that it was difficult to play a character that had a completely different personality from his own.
"In regard to the character, he has no passion. So that was the hardest part. It wasn't actually easy to hide emotions," he said. "The character is exactly the opposite of me. So from my perspective, he has a frustrating side. But the way he changes and grows shows the lives of young adults. I liked how he evolves and becomes more mature in his work and love life."
The actor said that he tried to hang out with fellow actors who played best friends ― Chae, Lee Sang-un, and Park Hee-jung ― to create a natural chemistry for the characters.
"We were pretty shy in front of each other at first. But we tried to become close in a short period of time. Since our characters were close friends, I felt that we needed to become friends in real life. So we would hang out together before filming and go out for drinks. And that process helped while filming," he said.
Choi said that one of the hardest scenes throughout the series was a romantic scene with Chae, in which the two make out in episode one.
"It was the most r-rated kissing scene I've ever filmed. Ever since I read it in the script, I got nervous while preparing for the scene," he said, adding that it took more than four hours to film the scene.
"While on set, Chae was very caring. That scene took a long time to film. The director said it was very important and he built this whole set just for that scene, like putting an island kitchen table and a long hallway. So much work was put into that scene."
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