Ji Chang Wook May Enlist After His New Drama
It may be the fact that his former co-star Yoo Seung Ho was recently discharged from the military, but actor Ji Chang Wook is thinking about his enlistment date.
At a press conference for his upcoming drama "Healer," he mentioned Yoo, who he worked with in the 2011 drama "Warrior Baek Dong Soo."
"Before Seung Ho went to the army, we would talk occasionally, and I think his experience in the army will be a valuable one for him. He will probably do very well in the future. Congratulations on the successful completion of his military service."
Ji Chang Wook is 27 and he has not enlisted yet. Yoo Seung Ho is only 21 and he is done with his mandatory military service. But then many k-drama actors don't enlist until they are around 30 as the 20s are the years they may land the most roles.
Ji Chang Wook may enlist before his 28th birthday, which will happen next July.
"I see myself in the military next year," he said. "It will be fun. I like exercising so I will probably be able to exercise well when I go there."
So, "Healer" could be his last drama before his two-year mandatory military enlistment. The drama concerns the after-effects of an incident that happened a few decades ago when some friends ran an illegal broadcasting station.
Ji Chang Wook plays two characters, the messenger named Healer and the person he pretends to be, Seo Jung Hu. He worked hard to make the transformation between these characters believable.
He also worked hard to make Healer's action scenes believable. The Healer is known for his fighting skills. And although the drama did employ stuntmen for some scenes, Ji trained for the role and tried to personally perform as many of the action scenes as he could.
"For the sake of this project, I've been doing basic fitness training and attending action school at the same time to learn the martial arts required for the role," he said.
Many of the scenes involved using wires.
"There are many scenes of me jumping across rooftops, so there are many scenes where I have to use wires," he said.
He also exercised for two months before filming the drama because it contains some shirtless scenes, but claims he was not in his "best condition." That remains to be seen.
The romantic thriller co-stars Park Min Young and Yoo Ji Tae. Song Ji Nah, who wrote "Faith: The Great Doctor" and "Legend" has written the screenplay. The drama begins Dec. 8.
Other k-celebs that are of an age to consider enlisting include Jung Il Woo, Lee Min Ho, Lee Seung Gi, Park Yoochun, Kim Jaejoong, Choi Jin Hyuk and Daniel Choi.
