Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 143

41. Release

Chris is renowned as a master of the De Niro Approach.

The De Niro Approach is an acting technique named after Hollywood actor Robert De Niro. It involves the actor transforming their physical condition to fully immerse themselves in a role.

There are countless stories about this.

Here are a few examples:

For ‘New York, New York,’ he practiced the saxophone day and night for months to prepare for the role. As a result, viewers of the movie wondered if he was a professional saxophone player.

When he appeared in ‘The Godfather Part II,’ he went directly to Sicily, the heart of the Italian Mafia, to learn the local dialect.

In ‘Taxi Driver,’ he drove a taxi on the streets of New York for months, and none of the passengers recognized him.

This was because he lost a staggering 16 kg for the role, making his face look gaunt and pale.

The reason he went to such extremes for his acting was to make everything feel real and authentic, rather than creating romantic or fantastical characters. He aimed to portray life itself, not just a believable fantasy.

Chris was the same.

You can see this just by looking at his current appearance.

It requires tremendous dedication for him to return as the Dark Knight so soon after playing a man suffering from a nervous breakdown in his previous role.

So, it’s no wonder he is considered a master of the De Niro Approach.

In essence, it’s method acting, but Chris claims his acting is different.

He says he relies on meticulously calculated techniques that only give the *illusion* of method acting.

It’s a precise and controlled style, but that doesn’t mean it’s inflexible.

Rather, he only shows the necessary acting, nothing more.

He delivers calculated performances, showing the same amount of sweat at the same timing, consistent changes in tone, and controlled emotional expressions.

He performs textbook acting, which gives him a restrained demeanor that avoids unnecessary emotional displays.

That’s not to say that Chris disparages method acting.

He’s simply distancing himself from the potential side effects caused by excessive immersion.

Method acting involves losing oneself and trying to *become* the character, which is neither possible nor, in his opinion, a proper technique.

The correct use of method acting is to efficiently draw out emotions.

However, if you forget this and delve too deeply into the role, trying to erase your own identity, unfortunate things can happen.

You can become trapped in the character you created, or you might end up with a performance completely different from what you intended.

Of course, when done well, it can create tremendous immersion, so actors are tempted to try it despite the risks.

“…Method?”

Thus, Chris couldn’t help but think of method acting when he saw Young-chan’s performance as ‘Jin.’

As far as he knew, the only acting that could make a person look so different so quickly was method acting.

‘No, is that even possible with method acting?’

When he received the ‘King of Arrogance’ script, he, like everyone else, paid the most attention to ‘Jin.’

However, his interest in ‘Jin’ was short-lived.

“It’s impossible to play something so absurd.”

He would rather play a god, a demon, or an angel, but playing such a contradictory yet realistic being seemed impossible.

Nevertheless, he joined the ‘King of Arrogance’ series because Director Bell was directing the film.

He knew that Director Bell wouldn’t have taken the job if it weren’t achievable from the start.

Then he learned that YC would be playing ‘Jin,’ and he nodded as he watched the works he had appeared in.

He was sure that the unbelievable acting he showed in the music video would be able to express ‘Jin.’

“But to *become* ‘Jin’ himself…”

Chris, who had never imagined that something so absurd was possible, was lost in thought for a long time after the filming ended.

“I thought we would have to film it several times… I can’t believe it ended in one take like this?”

Young-chan, who knew how much money, manpower, and time had been spent preparing for this one scene, wondered if this was really okay.

But even Director Bell, who emphasizes detail, couldn’t ask for a reshoot after witnessing something so amazing.

The ‘Jin’ captured in that moment was so overwhelming that even the cameraman filming lost strength in his legs.

Young-chan, who had turned the entire set into a crucible of silence, approached Chris, who was looking at him with astonished eyes.

“How was it? Was it okay?”

“…Unbelievable.”

Young-chan, who had joked to him to break the suddenly changed atmosphere of the set, scratched his chin at Chris’s words.

He was embarrassed because Chris was taking his joke so seriously.

However, Chris became even more confused by his awkward appearance.

‘It wasn’t method acting….’

It was unbelievable that he played ‘Jin,’ but what really confused him was that it *wasn’t* method acting, even though it looked like it.

The reason he was so sure was that if it were method acting, he wouldn’t be able to get out of the character so easily, especially a role as intense as ‘Jin’.

That meant that Young-chan was also a technical actor like him.

That’s why Chris couldn’t help but be surprised.

This meant that Young-chan was an even more unbelievable technical actor than himself, who was called a ‘robo actor’ for being an acting machine.

Chris looked at Young-chan, who was watching the set being rearranged for the rest of the filming, and gave a wry smile.

Then, after briefly washing his face, he said to Young-chan.

“I should go back now.”

“Already? I was hoping we could have dinner together later… Ah, dinner might be difficult.”

Despite Young-chan’s wish to spend more time with his favorite actor, Chris simply shook his head gently.

“Sorry. I guess I was more complacent than I thought.”

“???”

Chris, who left behind words that Young-chan couldn’t understand, let out a long sigh.

“Haa~ Method acting.”

He thought that he might have to seriously consider method acting, which he had avoided for various reasons.

Filming for ‘King of Arrogance’ proceeded smoothly.

Well, to be exact, there were several external incidents, but the filming itself was proceeding surprisingly smoothly.

-Krrrrrr!-

Director Bell solidified his confidence by filming the subway explosion scene, one of the highlights of the movie.

He was able to have confidence in this movie from the sight of ‘Jin’ leaning against the wall and watching the exploding subway as if he were looking at a masterpiece.

It wasn’t just ‘Jin’ that gave him confidence.

The Dark Knight, who faced ‘Jin’ for the first time in that chaos, was also captivating.

Chris was surpassing the Dark Knight, who he already thought was perfect.

Thanks to this, the Dark Knight, who could have been completely overshadowed by ‘Jin,’ was faintly revealing his presence even in this one scene.

“Chris… is pushing himself too hard.”

Director Bell realized.

Chris was now using method acting, which he had been avoiding.

His Dark Knight, who had already received tremendous attention even when he didn’t use method acting, became a surreal being by using method acting.

“Thanks to that, it’s become easier to capture the angle.”

Every time ‘Jin’ appears, the entire scene is devoured by him. This meant that the story flow would also become like that.

In order for the story to progress, the character who had to accept him had to reveal a presence equal to him, and at least the heroine, the Dark Knight, had to be like that.

But that was impossible with ordinary methods.

So, he tried to find a way with lighting and composition, but Chris’s use of method acting eliminated his concerns.

“I need to finish filming as soon as possible.”

Director Bell, already recalling the actor who played Pierre in the past, became impatient.

The Dark Knight is an existence with a dark background and way of thinking, no less than Pierre, so he thought that he had to finish filming before he fell into excessive method acting.

Fortunately, ‘Jin,’ who was the biggest problem, was finishing filming the most smoothly, so he thought that it would be possible to shorten the period by about a month if he pushed himself a little.

Filming for ‘King of Arrogance,’ which began at the end of May, ended in mid-October.

It ended more than a month earlier than the expected schedule.

It was possible because they filmed as if they were really pushing themselves, and thanks to this, Director Bell and some of the filming staff had to lie down for several days after finishing filming.

However, apart from that, Young-chan’s work related to ‘King of Arrogance’ was not over.

This is because he became the director of the film music to be included in this ‘King of Arrogance’ work.

* * *

“Why did I say I would do this?”

Becoming the music director of King of Arrogance meant that I had to give up all my free time and immerse myself in it.

This was because a considerable amount of knowledge was needed to work on this film music than I thought.

The film music director must be well-versed in many music genres and various aspects of music, because various genres of music are mixed in one movie.

In this process, existing music is used or new music is created as needed.

In addition, he had to handle many practical tasks such as the labor costs of the staff he had and the recording studio.

That’s not to say that you make a lot of money, so it was nothing more than suffering.

Nevertheless, the reason I became the film music director of ‘King of Arrogance’ was because it was difficult to find music that fit this ‘King of Arrogance’ work.

Everything had to be created anew, and it was not easy to create music for the section where ‘Jin’ appears.

I had to create music that didn’t diminish the presence of ‘Jin,’ which was not easy with existing music.

So, when the opinion came out that we should just go without music, I decided to accept it.

That’s because it was a time when I didn’t know how to control the outpouring inspiration.

“But it’s so hard to find this balance.”

The presence has to be revealed little by little, but the problem is that this ‘little by little’ is difficult to achieve.

‘Jin’ already exudes an enormous aura, so volume control itself is not possible.

I had to show the appearance of raising the volume with a really micro controller, and only then would the audience be naturally overwhelmed by his presence.

The problem is that this part is closer to the technical field than inspiration, so I have to work as if I’m being ground down.

“Is this a punishment for enjoying music like a game all this time?”

I proceeded with this tedious work with the feeling of being punished by God.

The problem was that the time spent on this music work was longer than expected, which delayed the comeback time.

As someone who tried to release one album a year, I could barely keep it at the end of December due to circumstances.

“I’m glad I finished the album work before filming the movie.”

If not, it would have been done after the new year.

I was planning to do a US tour again after my comeback.

To be honest, I wanted to do a world tour, but since there are still two more King of Arrogance works left, that was something to think about after seeing the response to this first one.

A world tour that crosses continents takes a full year to complete.