Im Siwan Talks About How He Prepared For New Film, His Passion For Acting, And More

Jul 02, 2020

Im Siwan is on the cover of The Big Issue Korea’s special 10th anniversary July issue!

After his discharge from the military last March, Im Siwan quickly got back to work and appeared in the drama “Strangers from Hell.” He’s also got many new projects lined up, including the films “Boston 1947” and “Declaration of Emergency” (literal titles) and an upcoming JTBC drama.

In an interview with the magazine, Im Siwan talked about how he felt eager to get back to acting while he was in the military.

“I ended up enlisting in the military at a time when I was really enjoying acting,” he said. “I had a deep yearning to act then, and it might have been because I enlisted at a time when I was coming to understand the fun of it.”

Im Siwan plays the marathon runner Suh Yun Bok in “Boston 1947,” and he spoke about preparing to take on the role. “I knew nothing at all about Suh Yun Bok before I got the script, and even when I searched after I got it, there wasn’t much information,” he said. “For that reason, I was able to create a character without any limitations. Since there wasn’t an existing image, I thought that I just needed to act according to the feelings I got from the script.”

He also spoke about how he donated all of his military salary, as well as more of his own money, to an elementary school when he was discharged.

“It wasn’t something I’d planned,” he said. “A lot of my peers, senior actors, and junior actors have already donated a lot. I saw them doing so and thought that it was something I should of course do. There are many people who donate a lot of money, so I’m embarrassed that I haven’t been able to do that yet.”