Super Junior says "we could go for 20-30 more years" (2)

Published on 2010/05/25 | Source

Donghae (Donghae left) and Sungmin [SM Entertainment]

Q: Leeteuk, Eunhyuk, Shindong, the three of you are regulars on SBS talk show "Steel Heart". But it must be difficult trying to head a segment of the program for several minutes.
Leeteuk: We seen quite a number of photographs get ripped up (laugh) but the more it happens, the public wants to see more intense photos while the celebrities want to hide more. We were able to understand what a hard time comedians must have. And it's usually hard to maintain a segment for more than three months. We're into our ninth month now and it's very tough. So I'm thinking we should come up with something different.

Q: Isn't it difficult getting the guests to display their talents on the show?
Leeteuk: (Sigh and laugh) It's really difficult. And many of them say they don't want to so we have to keep persuading them.
Eunhyuk: I had never been that interested in variety shows but I started taking part in it little by little because it sounded like so much fun when I listened to it. And then we got to appear on "Steel Heart" but I felt so much pressure to make people laugh. The two led the segment well though. Honestly, I'm doing a lot of freeriding. (laugh)
Yesung: When I see them talk to each other, it really looks like they don't even have time to sleep because they're so busy coming up with what to do for "Steel Heart". Shindong (Shindong) looks at the Internet a lot, Leeteuk is the one who wraps up the jokes and the segment and Eunhyuk does well in spicing up ... I didn't know they'd do such a good job.

Q: Some of you do musicals. Have the experiences helped in your singing career?
Yesung: They have really helped a lot. I have got to try acting and do more thorough jobs with practicing singing live after doing musicals. I've also gone back to the determination of when I was a new singer after meeting seniors in musicals. There were about 40 people who were older than me on set so I started by going around with 40 cups of coffee to say hello to everyone.
Sungmin: I think I've become more freely on stage after doing musicals. I used to just sing and dance on stage but I have to act and calculate for musicals so when I perform "BONAMANA", I became more comfortable putting on expressions or actions that I never had before. So I want to keep doing musicals.

Q: You said on "Steel Heart" that Heechul (Kim Heechul) almost quit Super Junior. Didn't you guys need time to form some sort of mutual understanding again after having been through so much?
Leeteuk: We talked a lot while we were on our Asia tour. Everyone usually has a lot of individual schedules to fulfill so we have time to talk before and after our concerts which is when we talk about everything. Heechul and I become very close because of our Asia tour.

Q: Then had you felt awkward around him before?
Leeteuk: No awkward but we had always told each other that we should only be friends. We didn't talk much about work together. But with what has happened, we ended up talking a lot about work too.
Heechul: Are personalities are completely opposite from each other and we haven't really worked together that much either so that's why we didn't talk much even when we're at home together. We even started having different opinions on issues and after wondering why that was happening, Leeteuk, Shindong and I said we should go back to eight years ago which was before we had debuted, and just let out everything, cursing and all. That's when things cleared up.

Yesung (left) and Cho Kyuhyun [SM Entertainment]

Q: What did you talk about?
Heechul: I just felt much better going back to the days we were friends and talking about anything and everything. Before, I avoided appearing on variety shows with other members of my group because it felt uncomfortable and we had our difference of opinions. We would also have to talk about incidents we experienced as a group but there were many things i didn't know because we were close as friends but not as a teammates working together. But I ended up talking with Leeteuk and Shindong for about five hours, felt much more comfortable after that, and decided to say what we did on "Steel Heart". I have a lot of fun on variety shows these days.
Leeteuk: He calls up producers himself these days and sets schedules. (laugh)

Q: Heechul (Kim Heechul), do you plan to continue appearing on variety shows?
Heechul (Kim Heechul): I'm considering making appearances here and there starting with the second season of "Family Outing" (laugh) but I know that I have my ups and downs when I make guest appearances. And I don't have that many stories to tell so I know people would get sick of me easily if I go on too many. That's why I'm taking caution to prepare myself as an emcee. I personally would like to host a program like Super Junior's "Super Show". As a joke I tell producers and executives that I want to do a show like that. (laugh) I used to be very anxious. I was under the pressure to achieve something before I go to the army but it felt like I hadn't quite found my place yet. But once I eased myself out of those feelings, I saw myself on a much larger picture. It's my dream to act but I've also wanted to do a variety show with my group.

Q: We heard that Kangin will be going to the army within the year. What about the rest of you?
Leeteuk: I think we'll be going next year or the year after that rather than this year. We plan on putting in our best efforts for our careers and go without having any regrets.

Q: You're idols who are now even considering getting married. How do you feel compared to when you first debuted?
Leeteuk: We're aging with the people who liked us from when we debuted, which I think is amazing. I'm also surprised at how I've been able to last this long. A lot has happened over the years which has helped me to grow stronger so I don't think I'll be shaken up by small incidents anymore. I think we'd be able to last for another 20 to 30 years at this rate. We'll also have to go to the army soon and of course we should go since it's our military duty to. I hope we'll be able to say at the end of the year that we worked hard and have no regrets.