Tuesday May 29, 2007
Big is beautiful
By LI EE KEE
Model-turned-actress Kim Ah-joong has suddenly become South Korea’s ‘It’ girl, thanks to her role in 200 Pounds Beauty.
Who knows what is it about the fat suit that has audiences flocking to the cinemas, eager to watch actors making fools of themselves as their corpulent personas.
For film producers, the rationale is secondary; what's more important is that the gimmick works.
My earliest memory of the fat suit used in films is that in Mrs Doubtfire (1993)which had Robin Williams as the title character.
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200-pound beauty: Kim Ah-joong in her fat suit. |
Gwyneth Paltrow proved that the fairer sex could also pull it off with aplomb in Shallow Hal (2001), playing a woman who weighed 136kg.
Hong Kong pounced on the idea later that year. And just to be different, directors Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai had two top stars, Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng, playing obese characters in Love on a Diet.
It was only a matter of time before Korea came up with their version.
Directed by Kim Yong-hwa (Oh! Brothers), 200 Pounds Beauty is about the overweight Hanna, the actual voice behind pop star Ammy. Hanna also works part time as a phone sex operator. Despite having low self-esteem because of her weight, Hanna is a happy-go-lucky girl. But all that changes when Ammy humiliates her in front of music producer Sang-jun, whom she is secretly in love with. Hanna decides to undergo a drastic full-body makeover.
The romantic comedy, based on Yumiko Suzuki’s best-selling Japanese comic book series, is a major hit in South Korea. It attracted over four million viewers in just 20 days after its release in December last year. Ticket sales even surpassed the popular My Sassy Girl (2001).
“I think the main attraction is that the movie offers a nice mix of thought-provoking, emotional and humorous scenes, as well as interesting characters, which viewers can identify with. Still, the success was a pleasant surprise,” related Kim Ah-joong in an e-mail interview. Kim played Hanna.
Perhaps, another reason behind the movie’s success is that it addresses the growing trend among Koreans, that of opting for plastic surgery.
Many Korean stars are rumoured to have turned to surgery to acquire more fetching features.
Kim, depending on which blog or article you read, has either had work done on her or is truly among a handful of celebrities who is blessed with natural good looks.
When asked to comment on the rumours that many members of her fraternity have gone under the knife, Kim candidly pointed out that it was not unusual although the number of artistes doing so was small.
She reckoned that those who had plastic surgery wanted to correct some imperfection so as to gain more “respect”.
While Kim is sympathetic to her fellow artistes, she is less supportive of teenagers turning to plastic surgery to improve their looks.
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Kim Ah-joong as she really is – a svelte beauty. |
In much the same way like how My Sassy Girl launched Jeon Ji-hyun’s career, 200 Pounds Beauty is doing the same for Kim. The model-turned-actress has suddenly become South Korea’s “It” girl.
It appears that the Hong Kong filmmakers are also interested in Kim. During a recent visit to there to promote the movie, she met with several of them.
Korean daily The Sports Chosun has imaginatively dubbed this obsession with the 24-year-old as the “Kim Ah-joong Syndrome”.
Amazing to think that Kim wasn’t the first actress approached for the role. Just her luck that the other actresses turned it down.
The transformation from the svelte 1.69m Kim, who weighs just 48kg, to the 90kg Hanna took four hours every day under the deft hands of Kristran Kobzina. It was a stuffy and uncomfortable experience.
“Except for the eyes, the whole body was wrapped up. It was hard to express myself,” Kim said.
In an interview with The Korea Herald, the actress disclosed that she initially had a difficult time accepting her obese self. She even cried.
“When I saw myself, I was shocked. I couldn’t concentrate on my acting.”
But as hideous as she found herself, the fat suit helped her get into character, especially when she overheard passers-by making snide remarks about how repulsive she looked.
It was a far cry from the normal reaction the gorgeous actress is used to. Although Kim maintained that she did not over-emphasise her looks.
“I just eat whatever I want. I don’t care a lot about body shape. I think there is too much pressure placed on actresses to look good.
“For me, beauty comes from health. People who are healthy in both body and spirit are beautiful to me.”
To prepare for her role, Kim took vocal and dance lessons for three months. It was an effort that paid off, as one of the songs that she performed in the movie, a cover of Blondie’s Maria, became a hit and has been downloaded 170,000 times from web community site Cyworld.
Kim, however, was modest about her singing abilities.
“I don’t see myself as a singer. I play one in the movie. So, I had to make sure that I played it convincingly.”
Malaysian viewers can decide for themselves if the excitement surrounding the movie and Kim is well-deserved when 200 Pounds Beauty is released in cinemas nationwide on June 7.
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