INTERVIEW Park Hae-soo finds catharsis in playing villain in Netflix thriller 'Karma'

Actor Park Hae-soo / Courtesy of Netflix

Park Hae-soo may be the most active actor in Korea today. His string of Netflix appearances, ranging from the global phenomenon “Squid Game” to “Narco-Saints” and “Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area,” has earned him the nickname Netflix’s civil servant.

Now, he has returned with another intense performance in the recently released crime thriller “Karma,” and he’s already preparing to meet viewers again through the upcoming Netflix mystery series “The Price of Confession.”

Since its global premiere on April 4, “Karma” has gained swift traction, topping Korea’s Top 10 Series Today list and ranking fifth on Netflix’s global non-English TV chart, signaling a warm reception both domestically and internationally.

The series follows six individuals trapped in a vicious cycle of misfortune, unable to escape a web of bad karma. Park plays "Eyewitness," a mysterious figure who witnesses a hit-and-run accident by “Glasses” (played by Lee Kwang-soo) and assists in disposing of the body, only to emerge as a key player in a storyline filled with twists and tension.

Speaking with the Hankook Ilbo, on Wednesday, at a hotel in Seoul’s Jongno District, Park reflected on the series’ popularity.

“I’m so grateful for the response. I try not to get carried away,” he said with a smile. “The character I played had such a wide range of emotional shifts, which gave me the chance to explore many aspects of [the] performance. I’ve never played a character this extreme before, it was strange, but also exciting.”

Embracing ‘Karma’ from the start

Park said the moment he read the script for “Karma,” he felt a strong urge to take on the challenge. While he had previously experimented with heavy makeup and transformations on stage, he admitted he was concerned about whether audiences could empathize with such a disturbing character.

His character is the only one in the show to interact with all other major characters. After suffering severe burns in the latter half of the series, the character descends further into paranoia and emotional instability. Park said he focused on conveying irritation, discomfort and neurosis.

“I researched a lot of references,” he said. “There are many documentaries about burn victims, and I paid close attention to how people who had undergone surgeries sounded. Once I put on the prosthetics, even my breathing and movement changed. I coughed a lot, which naturally altered my voice.”

Park also sought advice from fellow actor Lee Hee-joon, whose voice acting in “A Killer Paradox” had impressed him. “He gave me tips on how to layer vocal expressions, which really helped.”

Actor Park Hae-soo / Courtesy of Netflix

No need to justify villain

Park said he deliberately avoided trying to “understand” the character.

“Trying to justify him would have made it harder to portray him freely,” he said. “I just anchored myself to one thing. When I read the script, the character felt like someone who was completely hollow, just a shell. He doesn’t even have a name. He lives under someone else’s identity and eventually self-destructs.”

“He’s the kind of person who lives by blaming others and selling out their conscience. But I think he believed he was just a legitimate businessman,” Park said. “That contradiction helped me shape the character.”

Reflecting on the character’s fate, Park said he believed the “Eyewitness” had already died spiritually before the story’s climax.

“For me, he died at the bus stop,” he said. “He didn’t know where he was going—just an empty shell of a man. The director asked me to hum something during that scene, and I felt this sudden wave of sadness. Maybe that’s when the character truly died.”

Finding voice of villain

In “Karma,” one of Park’s most chilling traits is his unsettling, grotesque laughter, a sound that often overshadows his screams or angry outbursts.

“There were a few kinds of laughter I wanted to try, like Heath Ledger’s in ‘The Joker,’” he said. “The script had notes like ‘snorts,’ ‘chuckles’ and ‘cackles,’ all described differently. I wondered, ‘Why does he laugh like that?’ After the burns, maybe he laughs in front of the mirror thinking, ‘I’m still alive … At least my teeth are intact.’”

“In one scene, he’s laughing in a dream, and in another, when he realizes the true nature of his connections and where it all started, he laughs in a way that even I couldn’t tell if he was crying or laughing. The director really liked that. Somehow, I felt like his laughter became his dialogue. It held a sense of self-loathing and spoke for him.”

Haunted by filming locations

Park said one scene that stood out most was filmed on a pedestrian overpass.

“It was one of the first scenes we shot, and strangely enough, it was near my grandmother’s house,” he recalled. “She once told me the area had a weird, cold energy. Even in summer, it felt chilly.”

Another memorable moment came while filming in an alley where his character meets Ju-yeon (played by Shin Min-a). “It felt like being trapped in an endless cycle. I wanted to wrap up and leave that space as soon as possible,” he said. “It’s a real location, and we spent the most time there. The energy was so heavy, it wasn’t easy to shoot.”

Park Hae-soo, left, as "Eyewitness" in Netflix drama "Karma" / Courtesy of Netflix

A flair for darkness

Despite often playing intense or morally ambiguous characters, Park is known off-screen for his quiet and gentle demeanor. Ironically, he said acting as a villain brings him a unique sense of release.

“I’m actually shy and introverted,” he said with a laugh. “But strangely, I’m also kind of an attention-seeker. When I go to a barbecue place, I sit where people walking by can see me. I’m not embarrassed if someone recognizes me — I greet them. I guess I enjoy acting out these intense emotions because I don’t express them in real life.”

He added, “There’s a kind of thrill in breaking taboos. It gives me catharsis.”

Speaking slowly and thoughtfully, Park chuckled when asked if he was okay with being called an attention-seeker. His sincerity shone through when he spoke about his career philosophy.

“My only real principle is not to focus on the outcome,” he said. “The process is what matters. Whether I can endure it — that’s the real question. And people matter most to me. If I ever become arrogant, or if acting stops being fun, then that’s when I know it’s time to stop. Until then, I want to move forward with gratitude and humility.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.