Park Hae-il: Tang Wei was plowing fields in baggy work pants

While actress Tang Wei is often associated with an elegant and sophisticated image, actor Park Hae-il remembers her as unexpectedly humble. He recalled visiting her after expecting the modern, polished actress he had seen in cosmetics commercials, only to find Tang Wei wearing a straw hat and baggy work pants, personally plowing a field. Her daily life, so different from her onscreen persona, left a lasting impression on him.

On the 156th episode of "Salon Drip" on the YouTube channel TEO, Yoo Hae-jin and Park Hae-il appeared to share stories with Jang Do Yeon. During the episode, Jang Do Yeon mentioned having a small vegetable garden at home, which prompted Park Hae-il to explain his own interest in gardening and recall his unique first meeting with Tang Wei.

Park Hae-il and Tang Wei starred together in director Park Chan Wook's film "Decision to Leave." Park reminisced about meeting her alongside Park Chan Wook after she was cast in the film. At the time, his perception of Tang Wei was shaped by her sophisticated and modern image in various cosmetics advertisements.

“As far as I remember, Tang Wei had a modern image from filming a cosmetics commercial before that,” Park Hae-il said. Despite his preconceptions, the Tang Wei he met on-site was a complete surprise. Park drew laughter from the audience when he said, “I went thinking that, but what do you know? As soon as I arrived, she was wearing baggy work pants and plowing the field.”

The surprise didn't end there. Beyond wearing a straw hat and farming, Tang Wei reportedly prepared meals using the crops she harvested and served them to the group. In stark contrast to her glamorous advertising image, her lifestyle involved working the soil, growing her own produce, and cooking by hand. There was a significant gap between her professional exterior as a world-class actress and her down-to-earth reality.

For Park Hae-il, this encounter was more than just a pre-filming anecdote. He revealed that after observing Tang Wei, he thought, “I should try that too,” which eventually led him to start tending his own vegetable garden. Witnessing another actor's lifestyle firsthand became the catalyst for a change in his own daily routine.

In "Decision to Leave," Tang Wei played the role of Seo-rae, building a complex emotional connection with Park Hae-il's character. The film portrays the tension between detective Hae-jun and the widow Seo-rae as they suspect and are drawn to one another through subtle psychological maneuvering. Tang Wei maximized the ambiguity of Seo-rae through her unique delivery of Korean and Chinese and her restrained facial expressions. While her character's true intentions were difficult to read on screen, the real person described by Park Hae-il is the exact opposite: approachable and friendly.

Public perception of an actor is often built through their films and advertisements. When a completely different side is discovered outside the screen, it creates an unexpected charm. This is why Park Hae-il's anecdote about Tang Wei's "baggy work pants and straw hat" is so captivating; the humble lifestyle hidden behind her global stardom makes her appear even more human.

Ultimately, the Tang Wei Park Hae-il remembers is difficult to define with a single label like "sophisticated actress." She projects an urban image in commercials and portrays deep emotional layers in films, yet off-camera, she is a person who plows fields and cooks with homegrown vegetables. Watching her inspired Park Hae-il to start his own garden, proving how one actor's unexpected lifestyle can influence another's.