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 Korea’s Ji-Hoon Jeong, who is known as Rain and is the star of the new martial-arts film Ninja Assassin, is a man of many talents. (Ernest Doroszuk/Sun Media) |
He’s been called Korea’s Justin Timberlake.
Ji-Hoon Jeong— known as Rain — is a recording superstar in Asia.
Despite past performances on MTV’s Video Music Awards and getting on People magazine’s list of most beautiful people, Rain is still comparatively unknown in North America, though not for long. He appeared in Speed Racer in 2008 and he’s the star of Ninja Assassin, a frantic martial arts action movie produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski Brothers.
Rain visited Canada recently to promote Ninja Assassin, which opens tomorrow. He seemed relaxed to be in a place where he wouldn’t get mobbed (mind you, there was a small crowd of female fans gathering outside the downtown Toronto hotel).
Asked if he could be anonymous here, Rain said, “I don’t know. It’s my first visit and I haven’t walked down the street yet.”
As movies go, Ninja Assassin is a hyperactive assault on the senses, a tale of intrigue and revenge that involves complicated and magnificently choreographed fight scenes. And flying limbs. And gushing blood.
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The ninja fight scenes, says Rain, involve a new style.
“It mixes kung fu and ninjutsu, wushu, kick boxing, karate, taekwondo and more. (Also involved are parkour, Thai sword fighting called krabi krabong, a new sport called tricking and Kali, a Filipino martial art. There’s a little wire work, but almost all the stunts are real — and mind-boggling).
“I had to make my body as fit as Bruce Lee’s,” says Rain, “and to do that I trained for eight months, five days a week, eight hours a day. I ate only chicken breasts and vegetables, no sugar, no salt. No sauces of any kind. I learned a lot of martial arts, like taekwondo, tai chi and kickboxing, and with swords, double swords and chains.”
So he could defend himself in a fight? Rain just laughs at the idea.
“Before the film, when I was growing up, I had a lot of fights with my friends: Tooth gone, cut my face, cut my nose. But I won.” He laughs again.
Rain says he wanted to be a singer and dancer from childhood. He began in earnest when he was 10. “I loved Michael Jackson and Al Pacino,” he says, “and the Moonwalk is my favourite dance move. So I just started.”
Did he have a teacher to help him with his singing or choreography?
“Michael Jackson was my teacher.”
With five hit albums in Asia and a couple of big TV shows under his belt (he starred in the Korean TV drama series Full House and the mini series A Love To Kill), Rain made his film debut in the 2006 Korean film I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK, directed by Chan-wook Park. What he wants to do now is crack the North American market. “I would definitely like to continue my career in Hollywood. If I would do my best, people will love me, too. I believe that. And I want to challenge myself to see where my limit is.”
Another martial arts movie, maybe?
“I haven’t decided yet on another project, he says, “but no more chicken breasts!”
Fashion makes sense, too
Among many other projects on the go, Rain has developed a fashion line called Six To Five. The name represents his birthday (6/25) but the pop star says his fashion line is named for the sixth sense we’d all like to have, that is, we go to six senses from five. Or something. The birthday idea sounds more reasonable.
Rain is straight up about his role in fashion, and at the launch of his line told the Korea Times he doesn’t really call himself a designer and certainly never learned the trade professionally. “But I did try to analyze the clothes I enjoy wearing and feeling comfortable in,” he said.
It’s a nice touch that he can also model what he designs, and market it just by wearing clothes from his line when he performs in concert. Fashion design is just one more thing Rain wanted to pursue.
What motivates a man to follow all his dreams from childhood onward?
In Rain’s case, his late mother. She was diabetic and died in 2000, and according to past interviews with the singer, her death was at least partly the result of the family’s poverty — there was no money for proper medical care. Rain believed he might change that with his career as an entertainer, but his success came only after her death.
Asked about his drive to succeed, Rain says, “My mother passed away when I was young. It’s because of her that I’m here. She’s my hero and my angel.”