Friday, July 22, 2011

Power Korean: Park Doo Won 박두원


I’ve always been impressed with how stunts in action movies are being neatly executed especially those that are done by the main actors themselves. Meaning without stuntmen’s help. I can only name few actors in Hollywood and Asia who do their own stunts, and I’m proud to say that my friend happens to be one of these few..
Born and grew up in Seoul, ever since he was younger, Park Doo Won 박두원 already dreamed of becoming an actor. Well, being naturally gifted with the looks, becoming one may not be hard. However, his interests in movies, comics and martial arts gave him the creativity and passion of making his own name in Korea's film industry.

Performing Arts
           He is currently taking Theater and Film Studies at Hanyang University. He has had numerous performances like plays, musicals and movies since he entered the university. He was also scouted for a musical in Daehangno, the so-called Broadway version of Korea, last 2009 for the musical entitled Acapella Musical: Mirror Princess Pyeonggang (거울공주평강이야기). At that time he had a hard time deciding which career to pursue. Acting and singing seems to be a perfect choice for him since he already started his career in musicals but he is also very interested in doing a movie. He thought movie fits him more than any other forms of performing arts because he got more attention and recognition from the people around him.  He said I hope people would never stop reaching for their dreams.’ I hope they would also explore and experience new things. I’ve always wanted to show people things they have never seen yet.”
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Actor-Producer-Choreographer
Last semester, he decided to produce an action movie with his friends. They formed their own team called Urban Nation Creative Group (UNCG), which hopefully would grow bigger in the future as a maker of quality Korean films. Making a film, especially if it’s independent is not a joke. Just being creative and knowledgeable is not even enough. You need to have the guts to pursue it till the end. They already finished filming two movies where he played as the main character. He also choreographed the stunts with the help of the athletes they gathered when they were making the movie.

Movies
These 2 movies are currently being edited. The first movie they made is entitled Raging Guy (성난사내) because of the nature of the main character who fights through martial arts every time he is triggered by the things happening around him. The other movie is called Lallapalooza, which is slang for knockout punch in boxing terminology. He got the term form a comic book called The Fighting. Both action movies show a lot of stunts. When they were making the movie, they gathered some athletes like boxers, capoeiristas, kick boxers and pro wrestlers to help them with the stunts.

Martial Arts
His interest in martial arts since he was young inspired him to produce movies related to it.  He is trained in hapkido, taekwondo, boxing, capoeira, jeet kundo and more. For him, making the 2 movies, so far, was indeed hard but at the same time it was fun. Doing two things he likes to do most in his life in one production is certainly like a jackpot for him. . He said that taking challenges and living a life with passion is a wonderful thing and he hopes that he could serve as a role model for the aspiring artists like him

When I asked him about his opinion on being an artist, this is what he said,
“I don’t want people to see me as a plain performer. For me art’s ultimate goal is for people to share each other's feelings through it. Human feels loneliness and a sense of emptiness so I want to be the kind of artist who gives joy and happiness to everyone.

Here's an unofficial video of the making of his first independent movie Raging Guy (성난사내). Enjoy!




29초세계영화제 – 세계 최초의 디지털 컨버전스 영화제

Please support my friend Park Doo Won in his future endeavors. Let’s hope that we could see more of him and his projects on big screen.  

Follow him on twitter @greatone2k

Just a brief background about the “Power Korean” entries. I try to feature my Korean friends here which I think worth sharing to the public. I believe this will give everyone a glimpse of normal Korean people’s lives as they dream and take challenges on the path they’ve chosen. Since power Korean is synonymous to potential Koreans, most friends featured here are aspiring artists.

8 comments:

  1. Oohhh myyyy Goooood!!!!!! He's so handsome! Is he for real?

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  2. 꺄!! I just saw the video he's really good and handsome!!! I'm already your fan 오빠!!

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  3. Thanks so much for introducing this ambitions, talented and hot actor to us :) I cant waIt to see the movies. Where will we be able to view them?

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  4. Anonymous 1 and 2: Thanks for the comments I'm sure he's happy with it.

    Marie Frenette: Thank you! I will introduce more Korean friends in this section(Power Korean) I just can't find time these past few days because of my professor. hehe. Anyway, as far as I know they're still editing the 2 movies. I'll keep you posted ^^

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  5. hot! I'm booking a ticket to Korea now!

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  6. haha he has a musical right now you can watch it.

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