Park Ji Hoon Talks Candidly About What It Took To Make His "Weak Hero Class 1" Character Come To Life

Nov 29, 2022

Park Ji Hoon sat down to talk all about his newest project “Weak Hero Class 1”!

Based on the hit webtoon of the same name, “Weak Hero Class 1” is an action school drama starring Park Ji Hoon as Yeon Si Eun, a model student who excels at school but is physically frail—making him an easy target for bullies who are jealous of his top grades. Though Yeon Si Eun appears weak on the outside, he eventually uses his brain to win his battles as he fights back against the violence that unfolds both inside and outside of school.

The drama has received plenty of positive reviews with Park Ji Hoon’s skill in bringing the character of Yeon Si Eun to life through his meticulous and eye-catching performance.

“I could never have expected such a great reaction,” the actor admits. “My heart feels so full, and I feel so honored seeing the people’s positive reactions.” He touches on how his image used to be one that was very cute and innocent, marveling along with viewers about how he was able to make such a drastic change for “Weak Hero Class 1.”

He reveals how he researched and studied hard to play the part of Yeon Si Eun convincingly, talking about how he put in effort to lose weight and adjust his posture so that he would appear small and meek. But physical appearance is only just one aspect of Park Ji Hoon’s character. Conjuring up the emotions Yeon Si Eun went through and portraying those on screen was yet another challenge for the actor.

“I thought that the loneliness that Yeon Si Eun felt was similar to the lonely feeling I felt after my activities with Wanna One ended and I went about doing everything on my own,” he explains.

He then goes more into depth about one of the scenes he regards as most important, that scene being where Yeon Si Eun hits himself on the cheek. “In the scene where I hit my cheek, I actually hit myself even during the script reading. That’s how important of a scene I thought it was. I thought that it was a scene that showed Si Eun’s spiteful image for the first time.” He goes on to elaborate more on how it was a one-take shot with Park Ji Hoon not allowing for any mistakes to be made as he committed to his role with little hesitation about preserving his face. “In reality, the next day my face was a little swollen, so I iced it a lot.”

In explaining the details of the other scenes, Park Ji Hoon demonstrates just how invested he was in making Yeon Si Eun come to life on screen. For a scene where Yeon Si Eun laughs for the first time while in the hospital, Park Ji Hoon comments on how he paid close attention to how he laughed, trying to find a balance between too much and too little. In another scene where Yeon Si Eun is meant to hit Oh Beom Seok (Hong Kyung), Park Ji Hoon voiced his opinion about how he thought it would actually be more impactful if he didn’t hit the other, a move that the director agreed with whole-heartedly.

Park Ji Hoon was also quick to praise his co-stars Choi Hyun Wook and Hong Kyung, saying, “Honestly, I think that Yeon Si Eun is a rather detailed character with a framework that has already been decided, so there are limitations as far as what can be expressed. I think that Su Ho (Choi Hyun Wook) and Beom Seok actually worked the hardest.”

He expressed a lot of admiration for Choi Hyun Wook, saying, “He is extremely talented, and there is a lot I can learn from him.” About Hong Kyung, he says, “While I watched him, I thought to myself, ‘I need to act like that,'” describing Hong Kyung’s acting style as one that seems like it is about to cross the line but does not.

“I have a lot of things I still need to work on, and I think I learned a lot by watching these two,” he says. “We got close a bit late, and I wonder to myself why it is we got closer only later. Now that we have gotten closer, the three of us fit together really well,” he adds.

Finally, Park Ji Hoon describes “Weak Hero Class 1” as a turning point in his acting career. “Being an actor is quite interesting,” he says. “I haven’t filmed a lot of things yet, but as I research the characters in each project, I learn so much. So every single time is a new experience.”

Of course, there were many things he learned while working on “Weak Hero Class 1” as well. “I wasn’t showing a cutesy image but rather wanted to show a diverse and mature but also bad sort of charm. Honestly, there are parts where I really wanted people to recognize my efforts, and I’m thankful to those who liked the drama.”