Actor Gang Dong-won transforms into a Y2K hip-hop artist for 'Wild Sing'

How far did actor Gang Dong-won go to portray his obnoxious, dance-obsessed character in “Wild Sing”? 

For one, he messed with his good looks — sporting frizzy hair, goofy wigs and silver eye shadow for the film — to the point that his friend asked if he was “short on money,” Gang jokingly recalled. And then there were the dance practices. Lots and lots of them.

Attempting to dance to hip-hop, which he rarely, if ever, listens to, was “like picking up a totally new sport with zero background,” the actor said during an interview in central Seoul’s Samcheong neighborhood on Tuesday.

“Even keeping time with the beat felt unfamiliar at first,” he said, using his hands to imitate the up-and-down groove of the genre. 

“I started by learning the choreography, but I later realized that I had to learn how to walk [to hip-hop] first. So for the first 30 minutes of every practice, I just walked.” 

Gang practiced for “four hours every day,” but he didn’t stop there: He studied hip-hop’s history, watching documentaries on the genre, and even began dressing the part to get a feel for the culture — a style that he said he continues to wear, even though filming has ended. He wore a baggy hoodie over a hat for Tuesday’s interview.

“I’m not someone who believes in method acting. I don’t really like it, and I’m not even sure what people mean by it,” he said. “But for this, I thought, ‘I should at least wear the clothes.’ Not because I was trying to practice method acting, but because without adopting the style, I couldn’t understand the culture — why people walk that way or carry themselves with that kind of swagger.” 

In “Wild Sing,” Gang plays Hyeon-woo, the leader and main dancer of the mixed-gender group Triangle, which also comprises lead vocalist Do-mi, played by Park Ji-hyun, and rapper Sang-gu, portrayed by Um Tae-goo. The group bursts onto the scene with its debut track “Love Is,” which shoots them to the top of the charts and into the spotlight.

However, after Hyeon-woo takes the brunt of the blame for plagiarizing a song on Triangle’s second EP, the group disbands, and he is pushed out of the K-pop industry. Two decades later, he sets out to reunite the members and return to the stage, but shenanigans ensue as the three try to make it to the concert venue for their comeback, from meeting rivals to toxic managers from their past.

The film intentionally keeps its timeline vague, according to Gang. The only clear marker of time is a line of dialogue noting that 20 years have passed since the group disbanded.

“Love Is” is an upbeat, catchy song inspired by the bubblegum pop melodies of the mid- to late 1990s and early 2000s, and the style that the trio sports for Triangle’s second EP is a cybernetic, futuristic Y2K look. Think silver metallic tracksuits, frosted eye shadow and sleek wigs.

“If we set the present day as now, then 20 years ago would be the mid-2000s. But that wasn’t really the kind of music that we were going for, and the fashion wouldn’t look that different from today. We needed it to feel like a completely different era,” Gang said.

“It’s culturally ambiguous, a little hard to pin down. And with anything that didn’t quite make sense, we leaned into it anyway as part of the concept.”

The movie features plenty of real-life parallels and nostalgic throwbacks to the K-pop industry. Apart from the music and performances, “Wild Sing” portrays K-pop’s fan culture, music show broadcasts and the strange, now corny hand gestures that idols used to make back in the day. In the film, Triangle’s planned comeback concert is taking place to support the Gangwon provincial government’s bid to host an expo. Remember when BTS did something similar in 2022?

It’s because the movie is so inspired by real life that Gang didn’t want to make his performance, influenced by acts such as H.O.T. and Sechskies, comical to the point of being insulting.

“These were the artists that I grew up watching on TV as a student in the ‘90s. I wanted to try that [fashion] style, that music, that whole flashy era of pop culture.”

“I tried to really bring in the spirit of those first-generation idols. Wearing a blunt bob — it worked then. It was cool,” he added.

“When [they] see the film, I hope they can look back and say, ‘Yeah, that was us.’”

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]