"“We show him throwing himself into the process of character-building in his intense ‘Kim Myung-min style’ of acting, which is so severe the actor himself calls it a mental disease."

Yup, that sounds like Method Acting. I'm talking to you Daniel Day Lewis!!

To me, he seems like a warm, accommodating person in real life. Happy. I'm definitely looking forward to this.

This sounds very classy, to fit the subject. An actor's actor at work. Thanks, Dramabeans!

I want to see this so badly, too. He's such an awesome actor. I saw him first in Bad Family and he was brilliant there...been a fan ever since. Anyway, yeah, he's really really good and watching how he prapares for his roles must be v interesting.

Can't wait.

Kim is an amazing actor & one of my favorites! I love his acting in Beethoven Virus where i first noticed him then White Tower and he was also good in Bad Family & Open City! I can't wait also to see this! (I wonder why my other fave actor Kwon Sang refused to this project? was it because of the character's illness and/or he didn't want to lose too much weight?) thnx javabeans for your update on Kdramas - you're fantastic!

Oh Kim Myung Min.. I'd totally have his illegitimate babies. The man is AMAZING, and I can't wait to see his genius at work. (Hopefully this will be posted around somewhere.. I'll be sad if I can't see it. ㅠ_ㅠ)

Kim is the second Korean actor I heard talking publicly about and adopting the method acting. (The first one is Park Shin Yang who also shares about method acting with his fans in his official website.) Looking forward to this documentary.

Judging from the comments on this post and the comments about Kim Rae Won with respect to his movie....

...it appears to me that most commenters are female?

I wonder why that is? Not that I feel threatened and not that I feel weird about it, but are the demographics of the k-drama audience really dominated by females?

I mean, we watched 200 lb Beauty and My Sassy Girl over the last two nights (still waiting on Sweet Spy to arrive... grumble), and in both movies, the main female character was better looking at the main male lead, so wouldn't you think that guys would want to watch those kinds of movies too?

By the by, I've not seen Beethoven Virus, White Tower or Bad Family, or any of his earlier work, so I can't say much about Kim Myung-Min one way or another, but I certainly appreciate his approach to acting. It takes a certain personality to be able to go through the transformative effects of method acting and not go crazy, and so I think its cool to see if the actors can do it well.

-Samsooki

actually all "real" actors have a method, their own method. everybody has a different and personal habit of getting into roles. what's usually called Method Acting as the public knows it (and are able to recognize it as part of marketing awareness), is the showy aspect everyone can discern:
e.g. visible weight loss/gain, assuming disguises from help of wardrobe/makeup & hair, physical tics/mannerisms (which is why mental/physical afflictions are favorite stomping ground), learning an external skill like musical instrument, take on accents, take up a specialized sport, etc.

In other words, method acting can involve someone being "unremarkable" and fading into an ensemble, but still creating the story and characters as a group. the nature of movies and park jin-pyo's past work, is method acting as star attraction, the larger than life....so anyway yeah, hope to see KMM's hard work pay off. cheeky title too :D had to click on it.

KMM's an absolutely amazing actor whom I have so much respect for, I look forward to this special & his upcoming movie. I completely agree with Mr. X's writeup -- KMM's the Best Korean Actor in the 30's.

"I wonder why that is? Not that I feel threatened and not that I feel weird about it, but are the demographics of the k-drama audience really dominated by females?"

Trendies yeah. Sageuks are more balanced. Then there's Kobe, who's here solely for "oppa goodness." ;) Kobe's also a connoisseur of Korean horror, so if you need a good fright, he's your guy.

"Kim is the second Korean actor I heard talking publicly about and adopting the method acting. "

As Ed pointed out, whenever method acting is mentioned in press, it usually involves some kind of physical transformation or extreme immersive process whereby the actor "suffers" to "encompass" a character. Technically, that's not method acting. That's just an extreme role. Method acting, more or less, is about finding naturalism within a character. It's not a means of self-flagellation whereby one's inner demons are exposed torned and frayed for the audience to see (though critics have clung to that model since Pauline Kael) through actor. If anything, that's closer to "TV acting", where in that you are more trained to draw from an authentical, emotional memory in order to believably convey the character. The most important tool for a Method actor is observation (and preparation through observation), which is what KMM does; the more important tool for a "TV actor" is to have a really interesting childhood and a good relationship with the camera, preferably a "best side." :)

One of the things KMM is good at, when doing a scene with somebody, is discerning points of focus/interest that is often not directly about the person. It could be the doggy; it could be a certain thing, but not everything the person just said. But in any case, he's always focused on different parts of a whole, and so he remains engaged in the moment and not just waiting for the other person to finish their line. That requires a lot of homework though. Even if you intend to ad-lib or go for a spontaneous take, you still need to map out a lot of the basic actions the person is doing (which could be as mundane as drinking coffee), and figure out the points of focus and non-focus in that scene. The more that is done, the more with which you can improvise.

Ooohhh, I definitely want to see this documentary!
I hope it's going to be posted somewhere.
Thanks for this, javabeans! :D

Thanks, Sarah for the heads up. :D
Looking forward to watching this. KMM is a superb actor.
@Samsooki - get your KMM dvd's quick! :)
@Kender - ROFL :P I totally would, too. ;)

Oh, this looks good :D While Beethoven Virus was flawed, I think his performance was simply brilliant and I look forward to seeing My Love By My Side if it gets English subtitles at some point. This would be really interesting. Hopefully someone will subtitle it for us poor folk who don't know much Korean :D

He's one hell of an actor. THE BEST.

#7 Samsooki
"By the by, I’ve not seen Beethoven Virus, White Tower or Bad Family, or any of his earlier work, so I can’t say much about Kim Myung-Min one way or another..."

Oh, what are you missing not watching Kim Myung-min?! ^^

thanks for this, beans!
so looking forward to seeing this documentary! ^_^

by the way,
ALL KMM FANS ARE INVITED TO JOIN
KMM'S FIRST INTERNATIONAL FANCLUB!

check us out here: http://www.myungmininternational.com/

beans, hope you don't mind me plugging this! ^_^

Wah, it so cool. I want to see this too. But I smell something fishy here. Why MBC that produce it. Why not KBS/SBS or other station TV.

Or why not MBC produce about another actor? Thanks for sharing.

i want to watch this! but i dont have mbc...will anyone upload and sub this???

"Why MBC that produce it. Why not KBS/SBS or other station TV. "

MBC's the most likely to do stuff like this. Kim Myung Min became kind of a unlikely idol after Beethoven Virus, and so MBC's kinda milking off that. (Though White Tower was also a high visibility show for MBC in 2007) He may be the only actor in K-drama right now who has a covenant with the mainstream TV audience to do dramas that are about "the thing" than about "the romance." He's hot and he's cold, he's yes and he's no . . .

KMM doesn't have korean wave actor look and hot body that kills TV ahjumas, but this man surly is one brilliant natural actor whom will make you sit up glue to the google box. He is not branded by k/media as "National Actor" for nothing. lol

Agree , KMM is a great actor , his acting skill is amazing in White tower and in Beethoven virus . He always take different roles for each drama , more interesting
that way .
There are so many talented K actors , and KMM is one of them .

kim myung min is my favorites actor 4ever..i love his acting in beethoven virus,white tower, bad family and all his drama..now i want to see him in my love by my side..

kim myung min is a great actor .....