Im Siwan has become an actor viewed by millions through the movie The Lawyer (directed by Yang Woo Seok). He seemed extremely excited. When congratulated for becoming a million-viewed actor, he said, "When I go on portal sites instead of searching my name I search the movie The Lawyer every single day," and laughed. He said, "This was my first time filming in a movie, and I've come to know a site called Korean Film Council. The sales are updated every 12 hours, but I wish I could see the numbers update live time. These days I smile every day while looking at that."

Im Siwan played the character Jin Woo, and the movie took place in Busan in 1981, when the actor wasn't even born yet. Even so, he played the part very well, and has been acknowledged as a movie actor.

'I had a lot in common with Jinwoo. Busan, Busan National University, and even the dialect.'

Im Siwan debuted with the group ZE:A in 2010. He's perfectly played the part of Heo Yeom in MBC's "Moon Embracing the Sun" in 2012. From the start he broke out of the stereotype that idols have limits, and proved himself with his acting skills. Thereafter, he starred in KBS2TV's "Man from the Equator," MBC's "Standby," and KBS 2TV's "Waiting for Love" and became even more popular.

Im Siwan's filmography is short but sweet. He didn't just stop at dramas, but went on to go on the big screen. He starred in The Lawyer. He said, "When would I ever get to work with Song Kang Ho, Kim Young Ae, Kwak Do Won, and others? It was great luck on my part, and even now I'm very thankful."

On November 29th last year, 20 days before the movie premier, a screening was held for the movie. Each one of the reporters, after seeing the movie, commented "Im Siwan is amazing" in response. They had to discard their preconceived notions about the actor. There were concerns on both the reporters and Im Siwan's parts that he would fade into the background of Song Kang Ho's acting. However, his bushy hair, scruffy face, and his fearful demeanor were enough to make him into Jin Woo. Viewers even cried seeing Jin Woo get tortured.

It must have been difficult for Im Siwan, especially because he wasn't even born during that day, and he's had no experience with torture (thankfully). Im Siwan commented, "Not only is it not a story of this age, the movie is a story about something that happened to a few during that day. It was a part that really is rare. I was forced to recognize and understand the part through indirect experience."

Im Siwan's method of researching the time period was to grab anyone and ask them. He said, "My primary method of research was to ask my seniors, my director, boss, parents, and basically anyone else that was alive during that age about their stories. I also watched Namyoungdong 1985 to try to get indirect experience for the role."

The actor thinks the reason he was cast in The Lawyer was largely thanks to him being a native speaker. Song Kang Ho and Kim Young Ae had to take on the native Busan characters Son Woo Suk and Choi Soon Ae. Im Siwan had an advantage because he's from Busan himself. He said, "I had many things in common with Jin Woo. Im Siwan said, "We both hail from Busan, are Busan National University students, and even the dialect. To be sure I didn't have much in terms of filmography, so I wasn't a proven actor. I think that is a natural concern. What's important is what comes next. After the film's release, the audience has been quite generous, and for that I'm the most thankful."

Song Kang Ho is an intimidating actor that knows the difference between truths and lies.

When asked about the hardest scene to film for the movie, Im Siwan said, "Many people say it's the torture scene, but for me it was the interrogation room. For me it's much more difficult to express psychologically rather than physically. Especially more so because my part was one of the first to be filmed. I hadn't even filmed the torture scene yet, so when it was time to act as if I'd already been tortured, it was really burdensome."

This is one of the things that rookie actors struggle with most. Even the most experienced actors have a difficult time with filming because the order of the movie is filmed in different orders. It's a burdensome task to control their emotions on set. Im Siwan said he received the most help from Song Kang Ho on this matter.

"Senior Song Kang Ho guided me because he saw that I was very nervous. Senior Kim Young Ae also sat across from me and helped me capture that emotion, even though it wasn't part of her scene. For me I was nervous and very worried because it was my first shooting scene. I was extremely worried. Thankfully after the film's release everyone's been looking at that scene in a positive light, so that's taken part of the burden off of me. For me that scene was the most difficult."

Im Siwan has expressed at many different events that Song Kang Ho is "the scariest senior on set." He said, "Because of the filming situation, there was a scene that we had to film a lot over the course of a week. It wasn't easy at all. I think he gave me a scare to make me more alert and to focus."

As a continuation of the story, Im Siwan said that he respects actor Song Kang Ho the most. "For now I think I'll be the most influenced by Song Kang Ho. Watching him I've thought to myself 'He's amazing.' But there were even more scenes when I was shocked." He continued, "While I was acting I couldn't muster up some emotions, but I would pretend that those emotions are real. Each time he figured it out. That was really scary. And when I see him acting I can see that he's already looking through the monitor through the viewers' eyes." For Im Siwan even though Song Kang Ho was a scary senior, he was a living textbook that helped guide Im Siwan in his acting.

'The Lawyer' was a very big movie that went far beyond my abilities.'

Im Siwan has expanded his fanbase through his appearance in The Lawyer. That's because he was able to appeal to a million audiences in their teens to those in their 70s.

He said, "I'm so glad that many people have looked positively upon my acting skills. It makes me feel particularly good when older people tell me that they enjoyed the movie The Lawyer." It's understandable that Im Siwan feels this way, especially since he is able to get a response from a different audience than when he would perform as a singer.

In order to pull of the role of Jin Woo, who is tortured in the torture chamber, Im Siwan lost up to being 50kg. Not only that, since the movie wasn't filmed sequentially, he had to lose and gain weight from one week to the next. He had to quit drinking and go on a strict diet.

Im Siwan said, "It was a movie with a great weight. From the preparation to the actual filming I had to be on the edge. The seniors' presence had a considerable pressure on me, too. The acting scenes were far above my skill level. I already knew all this when I tackled it, so I immersed myself deeply into the work. Even still, since it was above my acting abilities, I had to live in anxiousness and worries during that time."

Im Siwan has been acknowledged as an actor through his skill, and this is just the beginning. We hope that he will continue his acting career in many more movies to come.