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Kwak Dong Yeon sat for an interview, talking about his experience acting in the Netflix series The East Palace.
The East Palace tells the story of Gu Cheon (Nam Joo Hyuk), who has the ability to cross between the human world and the world of spirits, and Saeng Gang (Roh Yoon Seo), a court lady who harbors a secret. Summoned by the King (Cho Seung Woo), the two set out to uncover the cursed palace's secrets.
Although Kwak Dong Yeon only had a guest role, he plays a pivotal character who holds the key to the plot's biggest twist, making him one of the central figures driving the series.
When asked what led him to join The East Palace, Kwak Dong Yeon said, "It all started in 2024, after I was done with Queen of Tears. At the wrap party, I met Park Joo Yeon, the CEO of Showrunners, the production company behind The East Palace. She told me, 'I think I'll have a favor to ask you soon, so please make sure to read the script carefully.' Later, the script I received was for The East Palace. When I first read it, I honestly couldn't picture how I was supposed to portray the role, so I was going to turn it down. But then the directors under the agency stepped in and persuaded me. Among the directors, director Choi Jung Gyu was the only one I had never worked with before. The others kept telling me about his abilities and how creative he is. If it had been anyone else, I probably would have been skeptical. But because these were directors I trust and rely on, I believed them and decided to join the project."
However, that trust soon turned into some cute resentment. Grueling special-effects makeup and highly demanding action scenes were waiting for him.
Kwak Dong Yeon said, "We filmed outdoors in the middle of summer, and I had to wear special-effects makeup made of rubber prosthetics that covered everything from my forehead all the way to [the top of] my head. Just having my face covered made it hard to breathe. I thought, 'Is this how plants breathe?' On top of that, there were so many mosquitoes that it felt like 70 percent of the country's mosquitoes were gathered there. It definitely wasn't an easy shoot."
The actor also revealed, "At first, [the makeup] took about four hours, but later, when they got the gist of it, they managed to cut it down to around two hours."
"They applied prosthetic pieces all over, starting from my neck. Even when I tried to make facial expressions, I couldn't move my face properly, and with the contact lenses in, I couldn't see very well either. It felt like my hands and feet were tied when it came to expressing myself through acting. But as filming went on, I got used to it to some extent. And since the action sequences were such a major part of the production, I figured that if I couldn't express myself with my face, I'd have to make up for it with my body."
When asked whether he had ever resented directors Jang Young Woo and Kim Hee Won — who recommended that he star in The East Palace — Kwak Dong Yeon replied with a laugh, "I'd be lying if I said not even for a single moment. It got to the point where even the special makeup team joked that they should include a special clause for special effects makeup in actors' contracts." "But in the end, listening to the two directors led to a great result, so I'm grateful [to them]."
During the interview, Kwak Dong Yeon also mentioned a scene early in The East Palace in which the Crown Prince he plays walks into the pond. "For that scene, I personally suggested the detail that it would be good if my character had a nosebleed. "There's something I really want to praise about The East Palace's makeup team."
He elaborated, "The makeup team prepared the fake blood by mixing artificial coloring and various other ingredients. Fake blood used for filming usually has a distinctive sweet taste. But this time, they made different flavors, including one flavored with Earl Grey, and even asked me which flavor I preferred."
"They prepared it that way because they took into account that the blood would get around my mouth or even end up in my mouth. It made me think, 'Wow, our country's special makeup technology has come this far.' It was an incredibly eye-opening experience," Kwak said.
Born in 1997, Kwak Dong Yeon is set to enlist for his mandatory military service as an active-duty soldier on August 25. When asked how he feels ahead of his enlistment, he cautiously began, saying, "I think it's difficult to explain."
"Everyone has to go through it, so I don't want to whine about it. But since I debuted at such a young age and spent more than a decade staying focused on one goal, I think I'm feeling both anxious and excited about stepping outside the boundaries I've built for myself during that time and living a completely different kind of life."
He added, "I might come back having learned something or [gained new] experiences, but right now, I'm also worried about having to leave behind my own space and routines and live a completely different life." He then quipped, "A lot of people around me have been giving me advice, but I don't want to hear any of it."
Speaking specifically about the advice he has received from senior actors and acquaintances, Kwak said, "They say things like, 'Back in my day, [we] had to serve longer than you do,' but that doesn't help at all." Asked how he plans to spend the little over a month he has left before enlisting, Kwak Dong Yeon said, "I don't really have any plans. It's the rainy season, so even travelling is difficult, and there are quite a few limitations when it comes to spending my personal time. If possible, I'd like to visit places I've always been curious about or some of my favorite spots and use that time to organise my thoughts."
Asked what he hopes his life will be like in his 30s after completing his military service, the actor expressed, "My biggest concern is falling behind the times. Things are changing so fast that I've reached the point where I don't even have a sense of how I'm supposed to keep up. I just hope things won't have moved on too quickly [by the time I get back]. And I hope I won't have aged too much either," he said.
At a time when he is gaining worldwide recognition, does he feel any regret about stepping away to fulfill his military service?
Kwak Dong Yeon joked, "If anything, I feel at ease that I'm enlisting just as I'm becoming known globally. In a way, I'm also glad that international fans will get to learn about South Korea's mandatory military service."
Source: MBC Entertainment News, Edaily, Newsen
