Park Hae-soo on Playing a Taboo-Breaking Villain in ‘Karma’: 'Felt Like Flying'

연합뉴스 / 2025-04-10 10:37:07

▲ This still image of actor Park Hae-soo in Netflix Kdrama series "Karma" is provided by the OTT giant. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, April 10 (Yonhap) -- With previous roles in Netflix hits like Squid Game, Money Heist: Korea, and Narco-Saints, actor Park Hae-soo has become a familiar face to global audiences. Now, in "Karma," his seventh Netflix original, he delivers another bold performance that showcases his signature intensity.

At a press interview held on Wednesday at JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul, Park joked, “I think I’ve earned the title of Netflix’s Grade 5 civil servant by now.”

In Karma, which follows six characters entangled in inescapable misfortunes, Park plays “The Witness,” a con artist who stumbles upon a mysterious accident and becomes entangled in a web of irreversible decisions. His true identity is revealed later in the series, injecting new tension into the story.

“I’ve always liked characters with wide emotional range and sudden transformations, even back when I did theater,” said Park. “That’s probably why I keep getting cast in roles with twists.”

▲ This still image of actor Park Hae-soo in Netflix Kdrama series "Karma" is provided by the OTT giant. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Despite the grim nature of his character — Kim Beom-jun, a cold-blooded scammer who runs over an elderly man and desecrates the body for financial gain — Park sought to portray him with a touch of dark comedy.

“Even though it’s harsh to spit out cruel lines to someone’s face, there’s a strange sense of freedom and thrill in breaking those taboos through acting,” he said with a laugh. “It feels like flying with wings.”

He added, “From a step back, watching these villains beat each other up actually seems ridiculous — I wanted to bring out that absurdity.”

In the early part of the series, Park shaped his character to appear as a somewhat unhinged psychopath. “The 1,000-won earmuffs I bought on set because it was cold? I ended up using them as a prop — that was my idea,” he said.

Still, the role took an emotional toll. “It was hard on me, psychologically,” Park admitted. “Beom-jun wasn’t just a villain — he felt more like an evil spirit jumping from body to body. I prayed a lot during filming, reminding myself that to portray evil convincingly, I had to stay grounded in goodness.”

▲ This still image of actor Park Hae-soo in Netflix Kdrama series "Karma" is provided by the OTT giant. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Karma features a ruthless ensemble cast: a patricidal son (Lee Hee-jun), a contract killer (Kim Sung-kyun), a man who buries a DUI victim (Lee Kwang-soo), and a manipulative femme fatale (Gong Seung-yeon). Park’s character has direct confrontations with each of them — but it was Shin Min-a’s performance as the stoic doctor Ju-yeon that left the deepest impression.

He recalled a scene where Ju-yeon tries to stop Beom-jun from being discharged: “My character always took the offensive with other villains, but when he met Ju-yeon — still standing in the light — he instinctively covered his eyes and raised his hands. It was an unplanned reaction.”

“Later, when we met again in an alley, I found myself backing away. That’s when I felt the message of the series: that light can overcome darkness. Shin Min-a’s energy really helped ground Ju-yeon’s strength, and I felt it through our scenes.”

Park said it was the chaos of Karma that first intrigued him, but it was the second reading of the script that revealed the story’s deeper message. “It’s not the tough ones who break the chain of karma — it’s Ju-yeon, the one who seems most fragile, most burdened by trauma. That really struck me.”

▲ This still image of actor Park Hae-soo in Netflix Kdrama series "Karma" is provided by the OTT giant. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Looking ahead, Park is set to appear in two upcoming Netflix films: The Great Flood and Good News. He also hopes to show a different side of himself.

“I want to take on stories I can share with my son,” he said, smiling. “Maybe something warm and down-to-earth like When the Day Breaks or even a melodrama.”

Time, he added, feels like it’s moving faster than ever. “There’s still so much I want to do. I’ve learned to let go a bit. I used to feel like, ‘I have to make this work no matter what.’ Now, I think my perspective has broadened.”