What a Sweetheart!

I'm not sure if you all caught it or not, but earlier last month, CNN's Talk Asia, amidst much publicity, chose Jang Dong Gun as one of the subjects for a series of English interviews with prominent Korean celebrities. If not, you might want to check it out for yourself by copying and pasting this link.
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/
asiapcf/10/10/talkasia.jangdonggun/index.html

Anyway, as I was watching that interview, I was struck with so many positive impressions of this man, not the least of which was how genuine this man seemed and his remarkable ability to express himself. I guess I don't have to tell you that I have this "thing" for an intelligent sounding man. Hee, in fact, when I was a lot younger, I used to be "in love" with the White House press secretary and found myself fanatically glued to the TV, hanging on his every word, because, well....the way he uses words was simply a work of art and in a class of his own. It didn't matter that he was bald, much older, and bear no resemblance whatsoever to the average person's perception of attractiveness. But for a year or so when he worked that post, he was simply the most sexy person alive, as far as my world was concerned. Anyway, that's a whole different story...

Anyway, back to JDG...at one point, he was discussing his perception of his fame and his fans. His answer was so simple, but to this day, I haven't any idea why but there was something about this answer that really struck something deep within me.

Here's an excerpt from that part:

Interviewer: Your work has turned you into a huge celebrity, not only in South
Korea but also in China and Vietnam and Mexico, of all places.
How does fame sit with you? How do you handle it?

JDG: I can't really say my fame influences me much in my everyday life. I'm definitely very grateful to all of my fans, for they support me despite culture and language barriers.

A person doesn't just happen to like and support an actor in a film by random. I personally think this might be something close to what love is, and so I always think about ways I can show my gratitude back to them. The best is probably to be true to my job and my role as a good actor. They give me much strength and encourage me to perform better.

Perhaps it was because it reflects that he's really given much thought into the whole star-fan relationship. Or that he was able to escalate that relationship from something that many people trivialize into something so much purer and higher. Who knows? I tend to be one of those people who can easily identify what she likes, but can never find the words to tell you exactly why.

Anyway, I really loved that his answer was so simple and yet so profound at the same time. And no, I'm not a JDG fan.

And then I thought....this man's path shares so many similarities with that of our man's. And they're supposedly good acquaintances although not buddies. Wonder if our man shares any part of this view at all?

Well, yes or now, I'll never know. But I do know that our YJ must have spent at least a second thinking about fans tonight :) At least he's spent a second pondering about one fan! haha

Yep, thank goodness that despite the rush to complete filming this drama, he actually had an early turn-in today. And the fans on hand were plenty ecstatic today - heard that he was filming in plain sight of the fans today. I don't know if you know, but fans tell me that they're usually shielded from view of the actual proceedings most of the time when they visit the set, and if they're lucky and allowed a peek, it's usually a red-bean sized BYJ to be seen through the most expensive binoculars in the world at best. That is, if he's not covered by the masses of workers and co-stars. Today, he was supposedly filming so close that they could see him well with just your ordinary unaided two eyeballs. So close that they could hear his voice and laughter........... Folks, tell me something .......should I pass out now or later?!

And hee, talk about turning other's funny habits into your advantages....the perfectionist's "One more take!" habit ended up translating to seven or eight takes for the scene. My goodness, it was like a dream of watching him parade in front of you, but only that the dream kept recurring everyday for the week or something! ! !

At times, he was on his feet. At times, he was on horseback. And at times, he was studying his script quietly on the side. Lucky, lucky fans, I tell ya.

Perhaps the secretive veil around TWSSG has lifted a bit and they're more lax now about everything coz the drama has already been proven to be a success. But either way, I'm happy for those happy fans.

Heard that things wrapped up early and that he left the set at Anmyon-do at just before 5:30pm this evening. Driving by slowly, he waved and greeted the fans as usual.

At halfway point, he suddenly broke into a wide grin and let an awesome chuckle too!
That, in response to a fan who shouted to him in Korean, "You are my sweetheart!"

OMy! They heard him laugh!

They heard him, they really heard him!!!

Whoever you are, you are one brave soul there, this one fan!

Oh my.....so tell me, pass out now or later????!! :)