Kim Nam-gil thrilled with compliments for ‘A Man of Reason’

Actor Kim Nam-gil is thrilled by the compliments he received after playing Woo-jin in the upcoming noir film "A Man of Reason" that his acting resembled that of Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker in the Batman series.

Actor Kim Nam-gil [GILSTORY ENTERTAINMENT]

Actor Kim Nam-gil is thrilled by the compliments he received after playing Woo-jin in the upcoming noir film "A Man of Reason" that his acting resembled that of Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker in the Batman series.

“That comparison was all I could hope for,” Kim said during a group interview with local reporters on Thursday. “I actually only have about five percent of Joker-ness in me, but I tried to bring that out to the fullest in playing Woo-jin.”

Woo-jin is one of the central characters in “A Man of Reason” – he is the contract killer hired to chase down the main protagonist Soo-hyuk, a former gang member who after serving 10 years in prison for his boss wants to live a normal life with a daughter he didn’t know he had. Kim’s portrayal of Woo-jin- was praised for its comical yet goosebump-inducing characterization of a seemingly crazed assassin.

Kim Nam-gil, right, and Jung Woo-sung, left, each play Woo-jin, a contract killer, and Soo-hyuk, the man Woo-jin chases down, in the new noir film ″A Man of Reason″ [ACEMAKER MOVIEWORKS]

“When I first received the script and the character of Woo-jin, I had the idea to make him very posh and clean-cut,” Kim said. “But I was competing against Jung Woo-sung, who plays Soo-hyuk. So I couldn’t win with that strategy and decided to turn the character around, portraying him as a slightly unhinged and psychotic person.”

While Kim did not reference depictions of killers or psychopaths in other films, he said that he watched the 2005 Hollywood film “Brokeback Mountain” to find the right emotional balance for his character.

“In ‘Brokeback Mountain’ there is a duality of the main characters, where they know that they love each other but they can’t be together,” Kim explained. “Of course, Woo-jin and Soo-hyuk are not lovers in ‘A Man of Reason,’ but Woo-jin has those dual feelings towards Soo-hyuk. He feels that he can understand him but also that Soo-hyuk must be killed.”

Kim Nam-gil as Woo-jin in ″A Man of Reason″ [ACEMAKER MOVIEWORKS]

Jung, who also directed “A Man of Reason,” helped Kim find the right tone of voice and delivery for Woo-jin as well as the right balance for the character.

“Jung acted out his own character Soo-hyuk while directing me to find the balance between Woo-jin and Soo-hyuk,” Kim said. “Without that balance, the scenes where they play against each other would not work. The characters needed to hold each other well and Jung was very apt in finding the right way for us to do that.”

Another way that Kim built up Woo-jin was to think of him as an adaptive person who changes according to the people that he is with at different times.

Kim Nam-gil as Woo-jin in ″A Man of Reason″ [ACEMAKER MOVIEWORKS]

“I imagined Woo-jin as the kind of person who assimilates to his surrounding environment based on the people he is with,” Kim said. “When he is with Soo-hyuk, when he is with the boss who hires him and when he is with others he shows different sides of himself. I tried to depict that change in Woo-jin as well.”

Kim previously had a leading role in “Hunt” (2022), directed by another actor-turned-director Lee Jung-jae. Lee and Jung are known to be one of the Korean entertainment scene’s most well-known best friends. When asked about the differences in the duo's directing, Kim said Lee is more laid back while Jung is much more detail-oriented.

“Lee would give the actors a lot of choices and freedom in choosing what to do with a scene, while Jung decides every little detail and works towards a certain result,” Kim said. “At the end of the day, both styles of directing are quite hard to follow,” he added with a laugh. “I think I would also like to try a hand at directing if I ever get the opportunity. For an actor, becoming a director has many merits, as I understand from both Lee and Jung.”

Kim Nam-gil as Woo-jin in ″A Man of Reason″ [ACEMAKER MOVIEWORKS]

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]