Korean Film Director Confesses That Gong Yoo’s Casting Rejection Hurt His Feelings the Most

On the most recent episode of MBC’s Radio Star, Park Joong Hoon appeared as a guest and shared his story of the hardships he faced as a film director.

Park Joong Hoon is also a veteran actor who debuted back in 1985, but he confessed that when he released his first film as a director with 2013’s Top Star, it did not do as well as he hoped.

He shared, “I filmed Top Star as the director, but it didn’t do well. What’s harder than filming the first film as a director is trying to film another one after the first one didn’t do well. I’ve worked on quite a few that didn’t work out.”

Park Joong Hoon also expressed his regret as he added, “I made casting offers to actors between 25 and 30 years old, but they all rejected it.”

And when the hosts asked if there was an actor in particular that left the deepest impression, Park Joong Hoon brought up Gong Yoo.

He continued, “I met him in person and spoke seriously for at least a few hours. He told me that he wasn’t drawn to the script, but that made me think again. Knowing that he meant it made it hurt even more.”

But Park Joong Hoon made sure to add that Gong Yoo turned it down in a friendly way and that there were no hard feelings since he understood.