The documentary began with the calm narration of a female voice actress.
[An actor is called an actor in English. Considering that the suffixes er and or denote a person, actor can be understood as "a person who acts." And act itself means "to take action" or "to do."]
Words appeared on the screen.
Then separated and reversed.
Act, or → one who acts.
[Here is an actor. His name is Yu Myeong, a third year actor who has just turned twenty six. With one independent film, one drama series, and a recently released commercial film, he has enjoyed an exceptionally successful start to his acting career. No, successful isn't quite the right word. His debut was so dramatic that the attention of the entire industry has become focused on him.]
Still images filled the screen.
[The reason is simple and obvious. As an actor, he has repeatedly demonstrated beyond any doubt the one quality everyone demands yet few possess: acting ability.]
Images of Phantom, Bohyeong, Yi Bang Won, and Yu Myeong practicing were divided across the screen.
Two panels became four.
Four became eight.
Eight became sixteen.
[He is currently preparing a stage play. Together with three teammates. The public may find this puzzling. Why would a promising young actor who debuted only recently choose theater rather than a film or television project for his next work? His answer is this.]
Yu Myeong's interview appeared.
"I wanted to create something with actors I genuinely wanted to perform with. A story that only we could tell. But dramas and films can't be made on passion alone. You have filming, editing, and countless things to worry about beyond acting. Theater, on the other hand, is possible as long as you have a place to perform."
The actor spoke with a slightly shy smile.
But his eyes sparkled with excitement.
The image naturally won people over.
[To achieve that goal, he rented a rehearsal room immediately after finishing his film and has been sweating there every day. Together with the actors he wanted to perform alongside, he has written an original script and partnered with Theater Company July to prepare the production. In every sense, he is a person who continually moves his hands and feet toward the things he believes in. A person who acts.]
The letters reassembled in reverse.
One who acts → Act, or → Actor → Actor.
[Through the past, present, and future envisioned by one young actor, we hope to reconsider what it truly means to be an actor. We begin with his past, reconstructed through the perspectives of those around him.]
Act 1. A person's history is recorded through the eyes of others.
And thus the documentary began.
"Well... I was extremely quiet. The kind of person whose presence people barely noticed. So I never imagined I could do something that put me in front of other people's attention."
[Our investigation confirmed that he was indeed so quiet during his school years that many classmates struggled to remember his name. However, once he found the courage to try acting, he displayed extraordinary talent.]
<Professor Lee Jae Pil / Department of Theater and Film, Gaun University>
"I first met student Yu Myeong while teaching Method Acting. At first I thought a student from another department had accidentally enrolled because he was sitting there so confidently. Then he volunteered first during an acting assignment and delivered a remarkably bold presentation. Later, in a short play his team created, he gave a performance that genuinely earned my respect. To give you an idea, I was so astonished that I actually bragged about him to his classmate, actor Yoon Han Seong, and told him to come take a look."
The accompanying footage showed the highlight scene from the short play.
The very footage that had left Producer Ban speechless after receiving it from Professor Lee Jae Pil.
Though the image quality was poor and Yu Myeong's face appeared blurry in the wide classroom shot, the magical sequence of expressions transforming one after another effortlessly captured viewers' attention.
<Lee Seon Ha / Actress, Theater Company Comet / Played Queen Consort Sindeok in Late Goryeo, Early Joseon>
"Our university club holds a summer workshop every year. I was invited by the juniors to teach a class, and that's where I first met Yu Myeong. The workshop was about listening, which is one of the foundations of acting. When I gave him an exercise, I was honestly shocked. His reactions, instincts, and immersion were unbelievable for someone so inexperienced."
A camera that had recorded continuously during the workshop.
Within that footage remained an improvised scene between Yu Myeong and Lee Seon Ha.
The "Contradiction" workshop.
The magical sight of two performers listening to each other and constructing an entire drama in real time made viewers' hearts race.
The documentary continued weaving together archival footage and interviews, tracing Yu Myeong's past.
Jekyll and Hyde.
There, his connection with Ryu Shin and their unique alternating double casting arrangement were explored.
Ballerina High.
An interview with Director Gi Do Han appeared, along with discussion of the film's success at the Busan International Film Festival and a phone interview with Cannes programmer Ballon Farouzier.
Entertainment Studies.
The producer and fellow actors lavished praise upon Yu Myeong's talent and character.
Meanwhile, footage from his camera test featuring the tattered clothes he had worn to the audition provoked laughter from viewers.
And then—
Late Goryeo, Early Joseon.
Director Son Chi Uk's heartfelt confession originally broadcast on Tick Tack Talk.
His reddened eyes.
Footage from the extra scene that had required fifteen separate shoots.
And finally, an interview with Yoon Han Seong.
"As a fellow actor, I'm grateful to Yu Myeong. At the time, we practically lived together for six months during filming. Even when we weren't shooting, we practiced acting together. And I realized something. A person's perspective can expand depending on the people they spend time with.
He's an exceptional actor in his own right, but more importantly, he's the kind of actor who elevates everyone around him. He's much younger than I am, but there are many things I respect about him, both as a person and as an actor.
I'm absolutely certain of this. If Late Goryeo, Early Joseon had not featured Yu Myeong's Yi Bang Won, then Yoon Han Seong's Jeong Mong Ju would never have existed."
[Every interview was filled with admiration and praise. Despite the sincerity visible on their faces, we found ourselves wondering if perhaps it was excessive. So our production team spent two months living alongside him and observing his rehearsal room.
And we reached a conclusion.
This actor—
No, these actors—
Are the real thing.
While the world buzzed endlessly about them, they remained locked inside a rehearsal room.
What exactly were they doing there?]
Act 2. A person's present only moves forward when they choose to act.
The documentary moved into its next chapter.
A cartwheel.
A back handspring.
A handspring.
His body moved with astonishing lightness and flexibility.
"What are you doing right now?"
"Practicing for Peter Pan."
"Why do you need that kind of training?"
"Peter Pan flies. We don't have an environment where we can use wires, so I'm trying to create the feeling through body movements that look light enough to fly."
[He is currently preparing the original play Peter Pan. During filming, we encountered a remarkable figure. Actor Ryu Shin, who received widespread acclaim for playing King Yeonsan in Artist Jang Nok Su, the film that found itself positioned as a rival to Late Goryeo, Early Joseon. As previously mentioned, he is also Yu Myeong's university senior.]
"The day filming ended, Yu Myeong asked if I'd like to do a play together."
"Not through your agencies? Directly?"
"Directly. We had so much fun working together on Jekyll and Hyde. At the same time, there was always one regret. We never actually got to share a stage. We were double cast, so we never performed together."
[Yu Myeong described Ryu Shin as an actor he wanted to perform with. Ryu Shin felt exactly the same way. Through the tension between them, we could see that each regarded the other as a friendly rival.
There were two more actors as well.
Seol Su Yeon, whose acting career is still relatively short, told us that working alongside them allowed her to overcome a wall she had struggled against for years.
And Chu Se Mi, borrowed from Theater Company July, described them all as genuine actors who approached acting with complete sincerity.]
Four actors.
The screen split vertically into four sections.
Each displayed a still image of one performer immersed in motion.
Then came footage of their rehearsals.
Among the many rehearsal methods shown in the documentary, the most fascinating by far was their improvisation.
Someone would abruptly transform their expression and throw out a line.
The others would respond as though entering battle.
Before long, an entire miniature drama would materialize from nothing.
It was as though they were dribbling a ball made of acting itself.
Wit sparkled.
Skill shone through.
Anyone watching could recognize what it was.
The pure play of people completely in love with acting.
The documentary then explored their unusual process for creating an original play.
[They told us that each actor assumes a role and creates the script while fully immersed in that character. What exactly does such a process entail?]
<Professor Kim Chang Rak / Playwriting Department, Seoun University>
"Ah... it's an extremely experimental method of writing. It requires participants who are highly sensitive as theater artists and capable of sharing experiences and emotions with one another. Every character carries a backstory, and the actors must genuinely immerse themselves in those lives before allowing the characters to collide. They need to remain emotionally invested while still maintaining enough objectivity to create dialogue that actually works on stage. That's not easy. If the result of this experiment is ever performed, I'd very much like to see it."
<Professor K / Department of Psychiatry, Shabrance Hospital>
"Peter Pan Syndrome is a topic psychiatry discusses quite frequently. The idea of placing Peter Pan's characters in a psychiatric ward and exploring what happens there is extremely intriguing. Looking at the diagnoses assigned to each character, it's obvious that a tremendous amount of thought went into constructing the setting."
<Yoon Su Hwan / Stage Director, Theater Company July>
"You can tell just by looking at the stage concepts they bring in. They're incredibly imaginative and passionate. Because of them, all the younger actors in our company have become fired up. Nobody wants to lose."
Then came more rehearsal footage.
Even though every clip had been carefully selected to avoid spoiling the story, viewers could still feel the astonishing intensity of the work being done.
"This is my Neverland~"
"You resemble your mother when she's being kind."
"Shh. Tell only the doctor."
"Wendy is a good child... a good child!!"
Then came footage of meetings.
Actors enthusiastically exchanging ideas.
Those ideas becoming script pages.
Stage planning sessions.
The construction of the set.
Lights falling upon the finished stage.
Every sequence was arranged to provoke curiosity.
To make viewers wonder.
To make them imagine what was being created in that place.
And then the documentary raced toward its conclusion.
[In this way, they are acting for the sake of creating experimental and innovative theater.
Two of these actors have already reached a level where most directors in the country would eagerly seek them out. Yet they continue taking new actions in order to break through their own limits.]
Black and white footage of the rehearsal room passed across the screen.
[An actor is a person who acts.
Here is an actor who quietly lives according to that simple truth.]
Act 3. Future.
"What is your ultimate goal?"
"Hmm... I don't know. Just acting, I guess. I enjoy becoming as close as possible to each character and doing my best with every project.
Rather than climbing a mountain, my goal feels more like walking across a plain and seeing different landscapes.
Or maybe showing those landscapes to other people.
Showing audiences more beautiful and more varied scenery every time."
[Because he walks across a plain rather than climbing a mountain, this play is not a meaningless descent from a peak he has already conquered.
It is merely a change in direction.
A chance to view a new landscape.
We look forward to seeing what kinds of landscapes he will show us in the future as an actor.]
KBK Special Documentary
Actor
END.
The documentary's ratings were unprecedented.
And public attention immediately shifted toward Peter Pan, which would open the following day.
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