Persona Matters: Why Gun and Tinn Can't Switch Places

Years ago, after watching a play at church, my mother said about one of the actors, "He just basically went on-stage and behaved like himself."

She was quite amused. The man wasn't "acting." 

Arguably, a great many actors are simply being themselves. Likewise, when I teach, I am "performing" as a more extroverted, in-one's-face version of myself. 

Sure, there are the Gary Oldmans who become completely subsumed by their roles. But actors have a particular aura that is, to a degree, recognizable. 

Consequently, switching roles doesn't automatically work. 

In My School President, Tinn--a young man who decides to become a doctor--woos Gun--a young man who is seriously interested in music. Despite the choice of careers, Tinn is actually somewhat more laid-back. He would be rather like an ER doctor I know: good at his job, ambitious (enough) but quite ready to stick to the regular schedule of the ER, no matter how crazy it gets in the moment.

Gun as singer.

Gun is, despite his bohemian tendencies, more highly strung. In fact, he is quite in keeping, personality-wise, with many musicians. 

In a later show, the characters switch places, so Gun becomes the ambitious doctor/student while Tinn becomes the bohemian. 

It doesn't work. And it doesn't work because of the underlying personas or attitudes. 

Serious-minded Gun as an ambitious medical student would drive himself into an early grave. He is already highly strung. His almost practiced insouciance in
My School President is self-protection. An environment where he can find himself--despite the highs and lows of a musician's life--will allow him to relax into that insouciance. 

Tinn embracing his whimsy.

Whimsical laid-back Tinn, on the other hand, doesn't become attractive as a bohemian; instead, he comes off as kind of a jerk, a guy who is deliberately playing a role rather than a guy who loves music more than anything else. 

The differences reach back to the actor's personalities. Forth, who plays Gun, is somewhat more reserved than even his character while Gemini, who plays Tinn, doesn't mind mugging to the camera. In the original roles, their underlying personalities give them depth. The outlier musician often proves quite serious on occasion. The serious (if laid-back) doctor gains a playful side.

Switch those roles: the one guy gets himself an ulcer and a nervous breakdown; the other annoys even his devoted friends and parents.

Casting directors truly do know what they are doing.