The reason why Jung Hae-in performed the smoking and cursing scenes in the movie “Start-Up” in a clumsy way

Jung Hae-in once received negative reactions for his “clumsy” acting in the 2019 movie “Start-Up” but later explained that it was his intention to do it clumsily.

Released in 2019, “Start-Up” is a movie based on the webtoon “Start” by Jo Geum-san. In this movie, Jung Hae-in appeared as Woo Sang-pil, a young man who begins working for a private loan business then experiences the ups and downs of being an adult. Apart from Jung Hae-in, actors Ma Dong-seok, Park Jung-min, Yum Jung-ah and Choi Sung-eun also appeared as the main cast. 

While Park Jung-min impressed the viewers with his smoking and swearing acting, Jung Hae-in, who played Sang-pil, received opposite responses. Audiences pointed out that Jung Hae-in’s smoking and cursing scenes were somewhat clumsy and awkward.

In an interview, Jung Hae-in responded to the viewers’ comments and revealed that he intentionally acted like that to highlight the clumsy side of his character Sang-pil. Explaining the character Sang-pil of “Start-Up”, Jung Hae-in said, “The acts of smoking cigarettes and cursing were poorly done because I tried to show that Sang-pil was just copying his friends. Young people at that age often copy what their friends do and their ways of speaking also sound the same, right? In fact, after working together with Jung-min hyung in the film, I unintentionally followed his way of speaking”.