I found out that I had to do it in Russian after I arrived for pre-production. Though I knew I was being dubbed, Kirill insisted that the lips had to match the language. Since Viktor Tsoy was Russian of Korean descendant, were you required to speak Russian from the start? Teo Yoo in Cannes 2018 (Photo © C-JeS Entertainment) Also, the similarities in our Korean-European backgrounds were an anchor that made me understand a certain unique sensibility. Lastly, I investigated his emotional being, by analysing the lyrics from his music up until his first album, trying to figure out the focus and stresses of his vowels in the sounds of his speech. I analyzed his speech pattern, trying to mimic his breathing pattern from the interview footage, copying how he holds his cigarette when smoking, understanding his famous posture to recreate a glimpse of his future silhouette, which he is known for, listening to real accounts about him from people who knew him. Secondly, I tried to read and watch everything that I could get my hands on about Viktor Tsoy. I managed a strict timetable to fit the breakdown of the sounds into 3 weeks (spending a certain amount of hours on a certain syllable etc.).

I had to learn Russian by osmosis and phonetically, by breaking down the script from sentences to words, to syllables, to vowels and consonants. First, the production helped me by providing a mime coach and a language coach. Let’s talk about your journey to become Viktor Tsoy. Teo Yoo as Viktor Tsoy (Photo © Hype Film)

Cannes is the highest league of achievement in the cinema arts and getting invited to their Competition is a stamp of approval I don’t carry with a light heart, but proudly. Knowing that Kirill couldn’t attend the Festival, I prepared as much as I could to answer the curiosity of the journalists, not only representing the film but also Kirill.īut I enjoyed it a lot. You recently attended the prestigious Cannes Film Festival as one of the main three cast members of Kirill Serebrennikov’s film Leto. Thankfully, there were a lot of interesting projects and opportunities that I could put my head and heart into. The last time we spoke was almost three years ago when you were promoting Benson Lee’s Seoul Searching since then, it seems like you have kept yourself very busy! How have you been?

During the interview, he discussed his characterisation of Viktor Tsoy, what it was like to work with Kirill Serebrennikov and his first Cannes experience. We managed to talk to the actor despite his busy schedule during the promotion of Leto. Leto was also nominated for the Art Cinema Award at this year’s Hamburg Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the Ulaanbaatar International Film Festival in Mongolia.Ĭurrently, Teo Yoo has three other projects in the pipeline: two K-dramas and a feature film, which we are patiently waiting to see. Among his most recent projects that the audience was able to enjoy was his phenomenal portrayal of Viktor Tsoy (one of the Soviet rock pioneers) in Leto ( Summer) by Kirill Serebrennikov, a film that was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. It has been almost three years since we last spoke to Teo Yoo, and looking at his fast-growing list of projects, he has kept himself very busy.

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