Actor Kim Eui-sung revealed his goals as the head of his agency.
The movie 'Lobby', which will be released on April 2, tells the story of Chang-wook, a startup CEO who only knows research, starting his first lobbying golf game to win a 4 trillion won national project. Actor Ha Jung-woo takes on the roles of director and lead actor once again, following 'Roller Coaster' and 'Heo Sam-gwan'. Kim Eui-sung plays Chief Choi, who receives Chang-wook's lobbying.
In September 2023, Kim Eui-sung established his agency, An Company. As the current head of the agency, he said, "I can relate a lot to Chang-wook because I am also a startup. Actors are in a subordinate position in contracts, but experienced male actors tend to rise to a superior position. While that happens as one accumulates experience and recognition, it feels awkward to be in a position where I am recruiting actors, asking them to join us, when I used to be an actor who worked comfortably. But it's fun," he said.
He continued, "Working with actors is enjoyable. Since this is a new company with many newcomers, I feel a lot of responsibility. Previously, I spent a long time belonging to a certain place as an actor, and while there were regrets, I thought I could do well. I wanted to create a kind of community where actors can feel a sense of belonging to the company and communicate more closely, beyond just a simple business relationship," he explained.
Kim Eui-sung also mentioned, "Personally, as I age as an actor and work in larger companies, I tend to become passive. I used to be an active person. I used to meet directors and producers often and think about how we could collaborate, but that has decreased, and I have become passive in meeting directors, which makes me feel like I am aging in my heart. I want to live actively, getting involved in various things," revealing the reason for establishing his agency.
When asked if he has thoughts about directly producing works, he said, "I am planning and developing. Right now, it's tough, and many actors and staff are idle. Our actors also have a lot of waiting time. So, we are considering creating our own projects where actors can gain experience acting together. Although we are latecomers, I want to lead in that area. I plan to have commercial self-produced content within this year," he stated.
He added, "I also want to recruit actors who earn well. It's half a joke, but famous and well-earning actors have skills, so it's important to have a balance where both star actors and newcomers come to the company. It would be nice to have strong actors," he joked, expressing his passion, "Even though we are struggling, I believe that if we endure and create interesting projects that others don't do, we can achieve meaningful results, and the situation will improve."
When asked what he sees himself doing in 10 years, Kim Eui-sung replied, "I want to stop being an actor as a profession someday. I hope to become someone who can do only what I want to do. I want to be an amateur who can work solely out of passion for the work, not for a living. Right now, I have to consider the commercial aspect, but I hope to freely choose projects beyond that."
Finally, he said, "There are fewer movies being released in theaters, and even fewer successful ones, so meeting audiences with a movie after a long time feels very precious. I hope it does well. I think the difficult situation makes the love for movies grow even bigger. All the actors are working hard to promote it," and added, "These days, I hear that people are not going to restaurants either. I hope the country normalizes quickly so that we can eat, drink, and watch movies again. I hope we can restore our daily lives. I wish for good circumstances after this movie is released."
[Yang So-young, Star Today Reporter]
