Choi Kang-hee's Special Tutoring from Oh Ji-eun: "Kiss Scenes with 6 Men"

Actress Choi Kang-hee revealed that she even received "special tutoring" from an acquaintance to handle kiss scenes with as many as six male actors on the theater stage. This story is about how she sought direct help not merely to learn movements, but to understand the complex emotions and relationships of the character within the work. However, the person who helped her was unexpected: singer Oh Ji-eun.

The 984th episode of MBC's 'Radio Star', which aired on the 7th, was themed "Don't Just Stay Still~". While Choi Kang-hee, Oh Man-seok, Kim Won-hyo, and Yang Chi-seung appeared, Choi Kang-hee shared the unique concerns she experienced while preparing for her current play 'Closer'.

When MC Jang Do-yeon asked, "You even received kiss tutoring for a character?", Choi Kang-hee explained the intensity of the skinship in the work. Regarding her kiss scene partners, she said, "There are three Larrys and three Dans. There are 6 men in total." As a character who has relationships with six male actors in one work, it was a situation where the actor had to meticulously design the emotional lines and physical distance.

Choi Kang-hee continued cautiously, "If we did it all for real, it would be too..." before explaining, "I don't know if anyone has talked about it, but we are doing the level of touching." Unlike filming, theater is a genre where the audience watches the actors' movements from beginning to end, so maintaining emotional continuity for every scene while adjusting the level and expression of skinship becomes an important task.

What was even more difficult was the character's emotions. Choi Kang-hee explained that Anna's romantic relationships in 'Closer' are very complex, saying "they are cheating on each other." In particular, she shared that the director evaluated even ordinary conversation scenes as "very erotic scenes." She noted that even a common phrase like "Did you eat?" can hold entirely different tension and desire within a melodrama.

This point was not easy for Choi Kang-hee. She confessed, "Then suddenly, they kiss. I just don't understand it." While in a drama, an actor can control emotions by filming scenes in parts, in theater, the audience watches the actor's entire movement in real-time. Choi Kang-hee said it was not easy to understand the character's worldview and mental state, saying, "In dramas, you can film part by part, but in theater, aren't the audience members watching my entire appearance?"

Ultimately, the person Choi Kang-hee requested help from was singer Oh Ji-eun, with whom she is close. Choi Kang-hee stated that they are close enough that Oh Ji-eun stays at her house when she comes up to Seoul, and when Oh Ji-eun asked "What is your concern?", she shared her worries about the character in the work and they talked together.

Here, Oh Ji-eun's unique background added laughter. Choi Kang-hee explained, "Anna is an aristocrat. Oh Ji-eun is from Daechi-dong. She has a good academic background." She then described Oh Ji-eun as an "Indie Witch," saying, "She threw everything away and went indie, acting as a Hongdae witch and observing Hongdae culture." The explanation that she sought advice from Oh Ji-eun—who is from Daechi-dong yet has experienced Hongdae indie culture—to understand an upper-class character created a strange contrast.

Then, what was actually learned during the "kiss tutoring"? Choi Kang-hee mentioned specific movements, saying, "One of the things I learned was suddenly pulling the shirt out for a short moment while kissing." She continued, "So, I received help with pulling up the shirt during kiss scenes." It turned out that her concerns about connecting the character's emotions and actions extended to actual stage movements.

Hearing this story, Kim Gura joked to Oh Ji-eun, "You must be good at dating. Are you a hidden master?", and Oh Man-seok added, "So that's why you pulled the shirt up well that day," making the scene erupt in laughter. It was a moment where Choi Kang-hee's serious character research was reborn as an unexpected "kiss tutoring" episode on a variety show.

For a stage actor, skinship scenes hold more meaning than simple movements. Especially in a work like 'Closer', where the desires, betrayals, affection, and obsession between characters intersect complexly, even a short line and a change in distance contain the character's psychology. Choi Kang-hee's request for help from Oh Ji-eun can ultimately be seen as a process to understand why that action is necessary and what emotions it stems from, rather than just learning the kiss itself.

Ultimately, behind the provocative number of "kiss scenes with 6 men" was the quite intense character research of actress Choi Kang-hee. In that she interpreted the character's emotions and relationships in her own way and actively sought help from those around her for a scene that appears natural for a few seconds on stage, this confession remains an unexpected acting behind-the-scenes story.

Read the original (Korean)