Singer Rain Chosen for Character of Choi Bae-dal in Fighter of Wind

Singer "Rain" (20, real name Chong Ji-hoon) made his debut in April with Bad Guy, which topped all charts soon thereafter. His image is that of a "beautiful boy." Hs feels such since his face puts on the smiling of a boy all the time. But his body is well built wrapped in muscles, with his height reaching up to 184cm. His statue exudes sexiness itself. One filmmaker compared his body to a composition.

He has chosen for the character of Choi Bae-dal (real name, Choi Young-ui, 1922-1994) in Fighter of Wind, a movie depicting the young days of the legendary figure in the martial arts. Upon receiving this news, Choongmoo Ro, Korea`s answer to Hollywood in USA, showed an ambivalent reaction: some accepted it natural; others said, "How could he? "

Yang Yoon-ho, director of the movie, explained, "Rain is a natural born dancer. He knows how to move the body. Usually, martial arts experts show `educated` moves. Rain, however, demonstrates soft moves in which toughness of fighters is soaked. That`s why I chose him." Bang Hak-gi, the writer of the comic book having the same title, said, "Mr. Choi was not just a hero. He was a god of fighting who feared fighting. A new image of Mr. Choi will come out, I believe." He sounds like expecting something new. Rain who I met on Nov. 20th showed an image of a man, contrary to my expectation that he would show an image of a boy. Before taking photos, he said, "Do you mind if I ask what kind of concept is wished to be portrayed of me?" In his question implied was his professionally that would not let him go easy over anything. He has received lots of offers to shoot a film, after he found himself a star overnight. He brushed off all of them. He explained, "In most cases, they wanted to put me in a sad soap-opera type of movie."

When he told his manager, "I want to do this," all he got in response was, "Why don`t you just do best what you are doing now?" But he could not give up. So, he begged his manager, saying, "It does not hurt us to make the decision after reading the scenario, doesn`t it?"

He said, "Many people would get me wrong. It has not been one year since I made the debut as a singer. I have just one album of mine. Then, people would think, how could I think of shooting a film? I really wanted to do the character, though. I may not have such a chance later, I believed."

He continued, "The Karate of Mr. Choi requires putting your life at risk. It`s a fight of life and death. I think I should not start if not prepared. I am determined. The training starts in January in earnest. Then I will put on hold all the activities of mine as a singer."

When asked, "You were the `big guy` in high school, right? " he said awkwardly, "I didn`t fight often. But, when I fought, I would not let it go. I just don`t like losing." Listening to him, my first impression was fading away, "Look at his face. He could be a fighter?"

"I started my career as a back dancer for Mr. Park [Jin-hyung]. It was really tough those days. Mr. Park often told me, `You don`t carry a tune. How could you wish to be a singer?` That was true. I sang really terrible. I never gave up, though. I just got myself mad about singing. I practiced and practiced. One day, I was working out a new dance, sitting in the back a bus while listening to the music with earphones. A lady next to me woke me up and said in a grave face, `Hey sweaty, are you an epileptic?` Due to my feeling of inferiority in singing, I never though of performing live. These days, however, I have never done the lip synch for the latest two hits of mine."

When the conversation got drifted to a talk about his mother who died two years ago, darkness spread all over his face. He said, "I promised to Mom I would have the kitchen decorated beautiful for her, but …" Listening to him talking about himself without losing his posture, I could defect the growth of the height of his mind.

"Mom used to say that you could not have all in life. I thought of that after her death. Actually, I don`t think I am a good-looking man. I looked kind of humble before. What I look now, it`s all about image-making. But I am not confused of who I am with what I am made to look like. I always keep that in mind."

Hee-Kyung Kim susanna@donga.com