[HanCinema's News] Kwon Sang-woo Talks About "Switch"

January 4th saw the release of "Switch" in South Korean theaters. "Switch" stars Kwon Sang-woo as a single life enjoying scandal ridden top star whose life undergoes an unexpected change on Christmas. Kwon Sang-woo discussed his experiences with the film in a recent interview. Despite the commonality of the body swap premise, Kwon Sang-woo said he thought the screenplay was intriguing because the body swap takes place between an actor and his manager.

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Kwon Sang-woo also said that Oh Jung-se had signed up for the project before he did, further inspiring confidence. So Kwon Sang-woo didn't want to turn it down. Kwon Sang-woo noted that while this was the first project from writer/director Ma Dae-yun, Kwon Sang-woo felt that it was quite clear that Ma Dae-yun had worked on it for some time. Kwon Sang-woo said that Ma Dae-yun said to him, quite sincerely, that the role was actually written with Kwon Sang-woo in mind.

Kwon Sang-woo said that Ma Dae-yun tended to leave the most important scenes to the actors to express with their own hearts as a consequence. Kwon Sang-woo claimed to have gotten along with Ma Dae-yun in an unusual way. Normally, Kwon Sang-woo reads the source material and discusses the work with the director and that's it. But on set Ma Dae-yun was always nearby to help Kwon Sang-woo tune his performance. This, despite Ma Dae-yun not saying much.

According to Kwon Sang-woo, Ma Dae-yun could express himself without needing to speak, and often didn't. Nevertheless, Kwon Sang-woo found his guidance useful, and described the two of them as having a natural rhythm. Kwon Sang-woo said that during filming he was unsure whether he was striking the right balance of emotion and fun, but was surprised to find at the press screening that he felt himself on the verge of tears, and noticed that his co-star Lee Min-jung felt the same way.

Kwon Sang-woo noted that it was with some relief that in other scenes the audience broke out in laughter to the more comedic material. Kwon Sang-woo said he had no regrets about trying to make the movie fun. "Switch" has earned 276,103 admissions through January 11th, its eighth day of availability at the South Korean box office. Kwon Sang-woo will next appear in the feature film "We Grow Up" and the television drama "Han River Police" later this year.

Written by William Schwartz

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"Switch" is directed by Ma Dae-yun, and features Kwon Sang-woo, Oh Jung-se, Lee Min-jung, Park So-yi, Kim Jun-II, Kim Mi-kyung. Release date in Korea: 2023/01/04.