- Actress Shin Min-ah, who is currently starring in KBS 2TV’s drama ‘Oh My Venus’, spent a lot of time and effort as well as money to transform herself into a ‘big’ girl. (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec.7 (Korea Bizwire) – Actress Shin Min-ah, who is currently starring in KBS 2TV’s drama ‘Oh My Venus’, spent a lot of time and effort as well as money to transform herself into a ‘big’ girl.
According to the production company, to turn the slim, baby-faced actress into a chubby girl who weighs nearly 80 kilograms, and transforming actress Yoo In-young with a body like a Victoria’s Secret model into a large woman weighing 120 kilograms, 200 million won was spent on special makeup and prosthetics.
A team of seven or eight people worked together to transform the actresses. Three were on location to apply the makeup and prosthetics, while the others made the needed parts out of special materials.
Actress Shin Min-ah, who is currently starring in KBS 2TV’s drama ‘Oh My Venus’, spent a lot of time and effort as well as money to transform herself into a ‘big’ girl. (Image : Yonhap)
Shin Min-ah was fitted with the special prosthetics, and went through delicate makeup procedures to match her real skin tone. She also had to wear a fat-suit, forcing her to spend three hours getting ready before starting shooting.
Kang Joo-eun, the heroine of the drama played by Shin Min-ah, was discriminated against because she was overweight. As she meets the ‘secret trainer’ John Kim, played by So Ji-sup, she starts a diet, and by the end of the fifth episode, loses 15 kilograms. Shin Min-ah could finally take off the special silicon, which helped her look chubby.
Hwang Ho-gyun, head of the special makeup team CELL, commented that Shin Min-ah wore the special makeup and silicon prosthetics 25 times to shoot scenes up to the fifth episode. Considering that even movie stars usually go through special makeup less than 10 times in the course of shooting a movie, Shin went through a lot of special makeup for a long time.
Actress Shin Min-ah, who is currently starring in KBS 2TV’s drama ‘Oh My Venus’, spent a lot of time and effort as well as money to transform herself into a ‘big’ girl. (Image : Yonhap)
Hwang continued that usually when an actor or actress goes through special makeup once, they take a few days off to rest their skin. However, Shin spent 15 to 20 hours in makeup, had everything removed, and then put it back on in two or three hours. “It took over three hours to transform every time, making us worried about the actress’s condition. But Shin Min-ah held on well.”
According to Hwang, the staff asked to make Shin Min-ah ‘cute and chubby’ instead of ‘big and ugly’. After discussion, the makeup team decided that the character would weigh 77 kilograms.
CELL made special parts out of silicone to paste on her face, and silicone gloves for her hands. She also wore a fat suit under her costume.
As Shin’s character Kang Joo-eun lost weight, the makeup had to change gradually.
“Once we had to change the costume of Shin Min-ah’s character. But we didn’t have enough time. However, because Shin Min-ah started to lose weight because of the deadly conditions, she looked as if she was getting thinner and thinner even with the special makeup. So we didn’t have to make additional changes in costume,” said Hwang, talking about one of the changeover experiences.
By Francine Jung (francine.jung@kobizmedia.co.kr)
