Hyun Bin gains 14kg to play power-hungry KCIA agent

Actor Hyun Bin has transformed into a completely different person by gaining 13 to 14kg. Having played Ahn Jung Geun, who sacrificed his life for his country's independence in the film "Harbin," he returns in the Disney+ original series "Made in Korea" as Baek Gi Tae, an agent of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency who uses state power for personal gain. Although both works feature the same actor and are set in the same era, the directions of the two characters are polar opposites. While one character sacrifices himself for the nation, the other attempts to grasp state power to satisfy his own desires.

With the release of the final episode of "Made in Korea Season 2" on the 23rd, the narrative of Baek Gi Tae, which Hyun Bin has built over two seasons, has also come to a close. Set in the 1970s, the work is a noir drama depicting the entanglement of power, capital, and desire, centered on the confrontation between Baek Gi Tae, who leads a double life as both a Korean Central Intelligence Agency agent and a smuggler, and the prosecutor Jang Geon Yeong, who pursues him. Baek Gi Tae, who raced toward the center of power in Season 1, does not stop even after securing higher status and immense wealth in Season 2.

The first thing Hyun Bin changed to build Baek Gi Tae was his body. In an interview last January, he revealed, "During 'Harbin,' the director requested that I not have much muscle, so I didn't work out. This time, the process of building muscle back up was not easy." He gained as much as 13 to 14kg compared to his time in "Harbin," increasing his physical frame through a combination of exercise and bulking up.

There was a clear acting calculation behind this physical change. Hyun Bin explained, "I wanted the power and intimidation of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, the ultimate power institution, to emanate from the character himself." Rather than simply increasing his size, he projected the physical image of power onto the actor's body. Unlike Ahn Jung Geun, who required a lean and disciplined physique, Baek Gi Tae needed to visually demonstrate the expanded desires unique to a man who has accumulated wealth and power.

Director Woo Min Ho also cited Hyun Bin's acting transformation as an interesting point. In an interview last February, Woo said, "It was interesting because the person who was General Ahn Jung Geun, a hero of this country, in 'Harbin,' is now playing a villain." In fact, the contrast between the characters built by Hyun Bin in the two works goes beyond a simple good versus evil dynamic. For Ahn Jung Geun, power is something close to an object to be rejected, but for Baek Gi Tae, power is a resource to be used to possess more and climb higher.

As Season 2 progresses, Baek Gi Tae's desires expand even more blatantly. Using the power and wealth secured in Season 1 as a stepping stone, he looks toward even higher positions. The core of the character is that he is never satisfied despite already having achieved significant success. At a production press conference on September 2, Hyun Bin also explained, "In Season 2, even though Baek Gi Tae has risen to a higher position and acquired more wealth compared to Season 1, he is a character who desires even greater desire, higher positions, and more wealth."

Baek Gi Tae's desires do not stop at personal ambition. His confrontation with the prosecutor Jang Geon Yeong, who tracks him, deepens, and cracks also appear in his relationship with his brother, Baek Gi Hyeon. As he gains more power, his human relationships do not strengthen; instead, the relationships around him are reorganized by the logic of transactions and interests. For Baek Gi Tae, power is a goal and simultaneously a way to destroy human relationships.

At this point, "Made in Korea" does not use the 1970s setting as mere decoration. Using an era where economic growth and industrialization progressed rapidly while state power exerted strong influence over society as a stage, the series shows through the character of Baek Gi Tae how massive individual desires can become when power and capital combine. As it is set against the backdrop of the real-life power institution, the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, Baek Gi Tae's personal desires are further amplified by the power structure of the era.

For Hyun Bin, Baek Gi Tae was also a role that intentionally overturned the actor image he had built up. After being imprinted on the public as an actor representing romance and stardom in works like "My Lovely Sam Soon," "Secret Garden," and "Crash Landing on You," he has expanded his acting range into action and period dramas through "Confidential Assignment," "The Negotiation," and "Harbin." To him, Baek Gi Tae is another turning point. In particular, the acting contrast became even clearer as he chose a character with diametrically opposed values immediately after playing Ahn Jung Geun.

In "Harbin," Hyun Bin expressed the restraint and resolve of the historical figure Ahn Jung Geun by slimming down his physique. Conversely, in "Made in Korea," he bulked up to express the power-hunger and intimidation of Baek Gi Tae. The same actor used the increase and decrease of his physical mass as a tool for character building. The connection between the two works is interesting in that the change in appearance functioned as an acting language to visualize the character's inner self rather than mere weight control.

Ultimately, what Hyun Bin showed in these two works is an experiment in how an actor can express humans with diametrically opposed values. Ahn Jung Geun gave his life for his country and community, while Baek Gi Tae uses state power as a means to expand his own life. One sacrifices himself for power, while the other constantly inflates his own desires through it.

The 13 to 14kg weight gain is therefore not just a simple change in an actor's weight. The body of Baek Gi Tae that Hyun Bin created in "Made in Korea" is the result of endless desire for money, status, and power manifesting physically. Having moved from Ahn Jung Geun in "Harbin" to Baek Gi Tae in "Made in Korea," Hyun Bin has completed another transformation, simultaneously showing the entirely different choices of two people living in the same era through his body, face, and acting.