The Korean entertainer Kim Woo Seok recently held a reveal-all interview with Allure magazine. The multitalented star is not only a member of the K-pop group Up10tion but is also a member of X1 following his runner-up position in the Mnet survival show Produce X 101 (2019). Furthermore, Kim Woo Seok has also been making a mark as an actor, notably in the recent K-drama Bulgasal (2021).
When asked about how he selects his projects, Kim Woo Seok says, “I always trust my instincts. ‘Cause if I don’t believe in myself, then who will? I believe that whatever my choice ends up being, the responsibility of that choice is my own weight to carry, and I always keep this fact in mind. I have my own standards. It doesn’t bother me if I end up failing, but I try not to make choices where I can potentially feel regret or frustration in case I fail.” Kim Woo Seok then goes on to reveal bits about his acting process, his feelings on getting older, the compliments he received from the Bulgasal director, and more.
Kim Woo Seok On His Stance On Mirrors
The interviewer asks him the reason he doesn’t usually look at himself in the mirror too much. Kim Woo Seok explains, “It wasn’t this way when I was in my early twenties, but nowadays, I don’t look at the mirror much. Don’t we usually look in the mirror because we are concerned about something in our looks, or because we want to check whether our outfits and looks are alright, isn’t it? Maybe it’s because a large part of my time goes to making sure I am looking all good during my broadcast or photoshoots. That’s why when I’m at home, I don’t look in the mirror. In my home, I am not in my made-up state, my at-home appearance is something only I know of, and I like that. Since it’s the face I know the most, I don’t feel the need to look in the mirror to check for anything.
Expressing his wish to stay away from the constant self-assessment in front of the mirror, Kim Woo Seok continues, “I have to constantly sit in front of the mirror during my work to get my hair and makeup done, so I have no choice but to spend a majority of my time staring at my face during work hours. Other times, I have to look at the monitor more than I have to look at the mirror. Be it filming for drama, or music broadcasts, or photoshoots like the one I had just now, I have to repeatedly check the outcome in the monitor so that I can improve myself accordingly to come out with better results. The end result that people see is in the monitor, not the mirror.”
But what’s so different about the face projected in the mirror and the monitor? To this, Kim Woo Seok replies, “It’s unquestionably different. The outcome in the monitor is what the audience sees, it’s the outcome that I want the audience to see. Sometimes, my appearance on the monitor differs from what I know my usual appearance to be like. The final outcome depends on the people you are working with and how my communication is with them, of course.” He cheekily remarks that the final outcome on the monitor usually comes out better than what he considers his usual appearance to be.
On Experiencing A New Kind Of Photoshoot
The photographer of Allure then says that they wanted to capture a more mysterious and odd atmosphere with the shoot this time, instead of the usual soft looks. About the results of the Allure photoshoot, Kim Woo Seok says, “Since the style and direction of the photoshoot was a bit different than usual, I did feel a bit awkward at first, but I didn’t dislike it at all. I didn’t want to avoid this style which was unfamiliar to me, so I just trusted the photographer and went with the flow. I always follow this method. I think breaking the mold is difficult to do all by yourself, one needs a push from outside forces. I was able to take that one step towards an unfamiliar territory thanks to the photographer. It was a new challenge for me, but one that I could comprehend completely.”
Kim Woo Seok On Acting Primarily With His Eyes
When asked about his feelings about seeing his face the way it came out in the photos, Kim Woo Seok says, “I like my eyes. Eyes are supposed to contain a multitude of emotions, but the director of ‘Bulgasal’ (Jang Young Woo) told me that they especially liked my eyes because they are able to express a whole array of emotions. So I think my eyes are my strength.” The interviewer wanted to know more about what the ‘Bulgasal’ director said about Kim Woo Seok’s eyes, so he obliged: “The director said that they can see a certain unexplained sadness in my eyes. There are a lot of emotions I can express and deliver through only my eyes, according to the director.”
Explaining his way of acting further, he says, “I’m the kind of person who doesn’t have a lot of facial expressions and emotions. So, when it comes to expressing the feelings of my heart openly without any reserve, I mainly do it through my eyes. I think I have always been like this, maybe it’s due to all the unrealized emotions that has been piling up all throughout these years? None of this was intentional, but come to look at it now, it does help me a lot when acting. Since acting is all about conveying your sincerity, I have become pretty experienced with acting through my eyes. During ‘Bulgasal’ too, I put the most effort I could into working hard. If you work hard at it, it’s possible to do to some extent. I think I have left an imprint of my life experiences and the emotions that came with it more than others in my eyes.”
Kim Woo Seok’s Experience Filming Bulgasal
Kim Woo Seok then shared his experience of filming for ‘Bulgasal’, since the interviewer who had recently watched it liked his character so much that they could feel cracks in their face (due to overwhelming emotions): “It was initially very difficult. The character I played is inherently a very bright-natured person, which I am not. Of course, the character’s inner pains get revealed as we go more into his past. I had a lot of concerns about whether I can portray the character so that the audience can understand and sympathize with the character, and so I worked hard towards doing that. But if I think about it now, I have a lot of leftover regrets. I couldn’t perfectly understand my character Doyoon from the get-go, I could fully internalize the character only during the later-stage of the filming of the show. But since I learned a lot through this precious experience, and regardless of my incapability, we finished up the shoot safely and nicely, so about that, I have no regrets.”
On His Career Choices & Image Maintenance
The interviewer comments on how well Kim Woo Seok has maintained the distance between “Kim Woo Seok – The Person” and “Kim Woo Seok’s Image”. To this, he says, “For this, I think one needs to find the appropriate amount of distance between the Kim Woo Seok I want to be and the Kim Woo Seok the general public wants to see. If I act in accordance with my public image, and I get a chance to break that image with an opportunity like an acting gig or a photoshoot like this, then I don’t refuse that opportunity and enjoy it. I am open to everything. I don’t do the things I don’t want to. But the things that I have to do, I end up doing. I believe in compromising and yielding through things without any repulsion or hesitation.”
Kim Woo Seok on about how he is the one who will carry the outcome of his career choices:“I t end to make a lot of choices. I went out to auditions only because I really wanted to, and I have a lot of good memories attached to that. I have been taking initiative in the kind of music I want to put out ever since the beginning of my solo career too. There are a lot of hardships too. But if I stop right now, I will stagnate, and I don’t want that. I become more confident as I hear feedback of becoming better with every new album.”
Kim Woo Seok On Getting Older
Then Kim Woo Seok is asked to comment on his age – he is twenty-seven (in age) and was asked about his feelings about being closer to his thirties than his twenties: “I felt like I entered my late twenties and couldn’t resist it even I tried to. I am not the kind that wants to get old quickly, but I do sometimes have imaginations about what my thirties and forties would look like. They say you never know how your life will turn out to be, but I am looking forward to it with optimism.” Laughingly, he adds, “for some reason, I feel like I will be a cooler person and live in a better way than I am doing now. Eh, or maybe not!”
