Translator: Dreamscribe
Chris Hartnett came to his own conclusion.
“So that ad-lib was improvised on the spot, wasn’t it?”
Kang Woojin maintained an indifferent expression upon hearing this.
“……”
But internally, he was fiercely denying it.
‘What kind of nonsense is this? You really think that was improvised?? This ridiculously handsome guy is making a fuss all by himself.’
However, Chris was already floundering deep in the swamp of his own misunderstanding.
“Acting like that, coming out spontaneously, it’s both shocking and exciting to hear.”
Exciting? What part exactly? Woojin remained silent for now, but he found the handsome Hollywood actor in front of him completely incomprehensible. Regardless, Chris kept talking. Now, he was saying that he’d be comfortable accepting Woojin’s ad-libs, claiming that he himself liked ad-libbing.
Right, he had heard about this from Choi Sung-gun, Miley Cara, and even the staff.
‘They said ad-libs are frequent in Hollywood.’
Of course, Hollywood was much more open compared to Korea. Some directors even left things entirely to the actor’s instincts without strict directing. So, it made sense that a top Hollywood actor like Chris would be skilled at performing with such freedom.
So, was this a declaration of war?
Chris had no such intention at all, but to Woojin, the core of it sounded exactly like a war was being declared. This massively popular Chris was asking him to freely accept ad-libs. Woojin’s persona remained unshaken, but deep down, he felt a bit, no, quite a lot of tension rising.
‘So basically, he could suddenly come at me at any moment?’
But soon, Woojin’s “no backing down” mentality started creeping in. If it had been the past, he might have acted rashly, but now, he had built up a fair amount of experience.
Besides.
‘Whatever, fuck it, I’ll figure something out with my abilities.’
Right now, Woojin had “role flexibility” that allowed him to break free from constraints. In other words, no matter what attack came his way, he wouldn’t be unable to respond. Perhaps the ‘Joker’ he had unleashed into reality would pull off another insane stunt. However, every insane move was still under the control of its master, Kang Woojin.
Woojin calmly responded to the smiling Chris. His answer was firm and weighty.
“But you won’t be able to enjoy it. You’ll need to be prepared as well.”
Chris’s brow twitched briefly as he asked again.
“Prepared?”
“Yes. Since you say you act freely.”
“……That’s how I tend to be.”
“Any kind of freedom comes with a price.”
The line Woojin just delivered was, honestly, a warning shot. It had a bit of bluff mixed in. Internally, he was screaming, ‘Just don’t do it! I’m telling you, don’t do it!’ But of course, Chris had no way of knowing this, and a mere warning wasn’t likely to affect him much. After all, he had spent over a decade thriving in the vast Hollywood industry.
However, his deep brown eyes visibly wavered.
“A price, I see.”
That was proof that the warning shot had landed. Thanks to the imposing presence and the grand illusion Woojin had meticulously built up, Chris hesitated. As he stared at Woojin’s face for a moment, he quietly swallowed.
‘If I make a careless move, I might end up getting bitten instead.’
He solidified his resolve.
‘This is exciting. More than any project or role I’ve taken on before, this one excites me the most. It’s like I’ve become David taking on Goliath.’
Kang Woojin’s warning shot had indeed reached Chris. But rather than discouraging him, the shot had only ignited him further.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been a challenger. Of course, I’ll be prepared.”
“……”
Woojin closed his mouth and furrowed his brows internally.
That had backfired.
A moment later.
As Chris Hartnett stepped out of Woojin’s trailer, he ran his fingers through his brown hair and laughed.
‘I’m sure I’ll grow even more through this project.’
He had no way of realizing that all of his heightened excitement and determination were entirely based on a misunderstanding. With his mind filled with misconceptions, Chris briskly, yet eagerly, strode towards the filming zone.
Late at night, over a hundred foreign staff members were in the middle of wrapping up their work.
Amidst them, Chris stepped forward.
– Swish.
He approached Director Ahn Ga-bok, who was in the middle of a discussion with the key staff, and asked.
“Director, did you know about it?”
“Know about what?”
“That ad-lib during Kang Woojin’s ‘Joker’ awakening in the first shoot, it was supposedly improvised on the spot.”
Immediately, the eyes of the surrounding foreign key staff widened in shock.
“What?”
“On the spot? Chris, what are you talking about?”
Chris Hartnett, as the host of the misunderstanding, was now spreading it further. And backing him up was Director Ahn Ga-bok.
“……Did Kang Woojin say that himself?”
“Yes, I just heard it from him.”
“As expected.”
“As expected? What do you mean?”
With all eyes on him, Director Ahn Ga-bok recalled the past. Specifically, during ‘Leech’.
“I never heard it directly from Kang Woojin, but, if it’s him, it’s not surprising for him to pull off that level of ad-libbing on the spot.”
“……”
“Honestly, when I saw his performance in the first shoot, I assumed it was improvised on the spot. Kang Woojin isn’t someone who has gone through a structured or elite training path. He’s more like a monster who honed his skills in the wild, purely by instinct. It was the same in ‘Leech’.”
Director Ahn Ga-bok’s words caused a massive surge in credibility, as people would put it.
“The family photo scene in ‘Leech’, which clearly depicted Ripley Syndrome, that cut was also completed through Kang Woojin’s improvisation. His creativity surpasses the ordinary by a vast margin, making him, in some ways, a terrifying actor for directors.”
Chris’s smile deepened, and the murmuring among the surrounding foreign key staff grew louder. Their whispers were filled with excessive awe and admiration.
At that moment, Director Ahn Ga-bok added,
“Everyone saw it during the script reading, right? How effortlessly he could perform other roles as well. Considering that, it’s no surprise that he can drop an ad-lib powerful enough to flip the entire set on the spot.”
Then, looking at Chris, he made a declaration.
“As long as it’s an ad-lib based on the script, it’s always welcome. It’s far better to challenge the scene and expand its depth rather than let it become stagnant and dull.”
That was the firm belief of the ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ executive director.
“So, Chris, I ask for creative acting with a solid foundation, just like Kang Woojin. Freely.”
Later.
The van carrying Chris drove away from the set. Sitting with his legs crossed, gazing out the window, his anticipation was swelling.
He was already thrilled about filming ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’, but today, thanks to Kang Woojin and Director Ahn Ga-bok, that excitement had multiplied several times over.
“This is going to be legendary.”
“Huh? What did you say, Chris?”
His manager asked again, but Chris just shook his head and picked up his phone. As he caught up on missed messages, for some reason, he decided to check a well-known online community. The most famous one overseas, ‘Reddit’.
It was the fastest way to see global public reactions.
Chris typed “Kang Woojin” into the search bar. Among the countless trending topics on ‘Reddit’, Woojin was a hot subject. From the ‘Emmy Awards’ to ‘Beast and the Beauty’, and now, discussions about ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’, which had just started filming a few days ago, were everywhere.
‘They’re hyped up.’
It was practically a free-for-all, with anonymous global users dissecting, criticizing, and analyzing Woojin from every angle.
-Unfortunately, Columbia’s cinematic universe is doomed. The grand setup is nice, but doesn’t it feel odd to have a Korean actor as the face of it?
-This seems like a shitpost, just accept it already that Kang Woojin is an actor recognized by Cannes, Hollywood, and the Emmy Awards
-Sure, he might have something special, but jumping straight into a Hollywood lead role is too fast. Without experience, will it even be a proper movie?
-After watching ‘Beneficial Evil’, I can see that he’s a good actor, but I don’t have high hopes for his first Hollywood film, ‘Pierrot’… He’ll probably be too nervous to show his real acting skills.
-This guy openly challenged the ‘Academy Awards’ at Cannes and during press conferences. You think someone like that is going to be nervous?
-This place is always noisy. That just proves how globally relevant Kang Woojin is.
-His action scenes were impressive, but as for serious acting? Not sure.
And it wasn’t just on ‘Reddit’.
Hollywood media outlets were frequently covering ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ as well.
『LA Times / ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ officially begins filming, what kind of performance will the globally watched Kang Woojin deliver?』
There were plenty of similar articles. As Chris scanned through the reactions for a moment, he murmured internally.
‘Columbia Studios’ Cinematic Universe should be bowing to Kang Woojin. He’s the perfect first villain to set the stage. He’s definitely going to spread the ‘Joker’ virus across the world.’
Chris then spoke to his manager, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
“Director Ahn Ga-bok said I’m free to perform creative acting.”
“Ah- then you can comfortably show off your specialty, ad-libs? You were worried about that, right? That’s great news. But don’t overdo it. A lot of actors hate ad-libs. ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ has both rookies and veteran actors.”
“……It’s fine with Kang Woojin.”
Chris Hartnett answered, recalling Kang Woojin’s indifferent expression.
“With him, he’ll handle anything without a problem.”
A few days passed.
June 20th. It had been 11 days since the first shoot of ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’, and now, it was in its second week since the crank-in. The early filming of ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ included some scenes with supporting and minor actors, but for the most part, it was focused on the male lead, Kang Woojin.
For a week, Woojin had been switching back and forth between ‘Joker’ and ‘Henry Gordon’, pushing forward with the filming.
Meanwhile, as Hollywood continued to buzz with various news, some updates outside of ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ emerged.
There was ‘Beast and the Beauty’, which was in the mid-to-late stage of pre-production.
『CNM / Maria Armas confirmed for casting in ‘Beast and the Beauty’!』
『BBX / With Miley Cara and now Maria Armas! The cast of ‘Beast and the Beauty’ keeps getting more extravagant. Insiders predict script reading to happen around July.』
Then there was ‘John Persona’, the project for which ‘Universal Movies’ had cast Kang Woojin last. Rumors were circulating about whether the casting process had begun or if the script was being distributed. Additionally, the production team was aggressively recruiting staff for the official start of pre-production.
And, of course, ‘Beneficial Evil’.
『LA Times / ‘Beneficial Evil’, nominated in 10 categories for the ‘Emmy Awards’! Netflix CEO: “’Beneficial Evil’ Part 2 expected to launch around September.”』
Naturally, the ‘Primetime Emmy Awards’, the grand event of the broadcasting industry that was always mentioned alongside ‘Beneficial Evil’, was also making headlines.
And as for Kang Woojin.
– Swish.
He had just arrived at the filming set for ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’. The location of the set had changed slightly, but the overall layout remained the same. As soon as Woojin and his team arrived, they headed toward the trailer. They had arrived 30 minutes early, and preparations for the shoot were still underway.
Just as Woojin, holding the ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ script in one hand, stepped into the trailer.
“Woojin.”
Ponytailed Choi Sung-gun, who had just been on a call with someone, approached him. Recently, Choi Sung-gun had been even busier than Woojin. Managing Kang Woojin’s support, handling bw Entertainment, and overseeing its expansion while traveling between Korea, Japan, and Hollywood had kept him on his toes.
Regardless, he turned to Woojin and asked,
“The ‘Emmy Awards’, there’s still some time left, but it’s your first Emmy, and not just Korea but the entire world will be watching you. You need to put some extra effort into your style for the ‘Emmy Awards’.”
“Is that so?”
Woojin replied in a low voice as he stepped into the trailer, internally murmuring.
‘Do I really need to overdo it? It’s just like Cannes, isn’t it?’
No, it wasn’t. That was simply Woojin’s lack of grasp on the situation. While Cannes and the ‘Emmy Awards’ were both grand events, in terms of authority, symbolism, and global influence, the Emmys were far more powerful. Soon, Choi Sung-gun followed him into the trailer and nodded.
“Yeah. When you get some time, talk to Ye-jung about it. Whether it’s a tuxedo, a suit, or whatever color you want, just pick whatever brand you prefer. You’re already getting a flood of offers from luxury brands anyway.”
At that moment, various top-tier luxury brands flashed through Woojin’s mind. He was already modeling for some of them. Then, suddenly.
‘Hmm- it’s getting boring. From the Blue Dragon Awards to the Baeksang, the Grand Bell Awards, Cannes, I’ve been wearing the same kind of stuff every time.’
He realized he was getting tired of it. The suits and tuxedos he had to wear to award ceremonies, events, and parties, it was all too repetitive. Given that he was fundamentally different from ordinary actors.
‘Should I just wear my everyday clothes? Maybe a hoodie or something. Would I get absolutely roasted for it?’
Just as those thoughts were taking root.
‘Ah.’
Something caught Kang Woojin’s eye. Hanging on a clothing rack inside the trailer.
‘Hmm- this might not be a bad idea?’
It was the ‘Joker’ costume.
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