Ahn Bo Hyun on ‘questioning’ his testosterone levels, says he’s ‘good at looking pathetic’ ahead of Pretty Crazy with Girls’ Generation’s Yoona

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Ahn’s upcoming movie Pretty Crazy, with Yoona, is nothing like the roles fans usually associate him with. From the arrogant chaebol heir tormenting Park Seo Joon in Itaewon Class to Han So Hee’s punch-throwing romantic interest in My Name, and nearly killing Jung Hae In in I, Executioner, his characters have always carried a certain intensity. But this time, he’s stepping into a genre fast disappearing in the Korean entertainment scene, the fantasy rom-com. Yoona, the K-pop idol turned actor, plays a beautiful woman who transforms into a demon every night, with no memory of it by morning. Ahn takes on the role of Gil Goo, an unemployed man stuck cleaning up the mess her demon side leaves behind.

Gil Goo is awkward, jobless, and hopelessly in love. He follows his crush everywhere and pretends to “bump into” her. When he gets the job of looking after her at night, he treats her with almost motherly care. Ahn laughed, “Watching myself, I realised I’m really good at looking pathetic, genuinely wronged and pitiful.” And, out of all his macho characters, surprisingly, he relates the most with Gil Goo. “I don’t talk like him, but I could definitely sympathise. People have a hard time believing it because I look so tough and all, but Gil Goo exists inside me too. I’ve had my own periods of deep uncertainty, times when I cared too much about what others thought,” Ahn said.

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Off-screen, Ahn admits he’s detail-oriented and loves to cook big meals. “I know it doesn’t match how I look, but I love cooking elaborate meals for myself, arranging things just so. I like cute little things to the point where you’d question my testosterone levels. I clean obsessively, do laundry religiously.” For Ahn, his character in the show is less comedic and more about growth.  The character goes from being a directionless man to someone willing to do anything for to help Seon Ji (Yoona) break her curse. “It’s a coming-of-age story,” Ahn added. “This broken guy meets someone, accepts a crazy reality, and realises he can make a difference.”

The actor opened up about one of the final scenes where he broke down in tears unexpectedly and cried so hard his eyes swelled, leading the crew to pause filming. “I wasn’t supposed to cry,  it could be seen as romantic love,  but I’d grown so attached to her character.” Pretty Crazy is coming on August 13.