Byun Yo-han lost his voice for 'Tazza: The Sound of Beelzebub,' found 'ease' in marriage with Tiffany

Byun Yo-han says he screamed by himself in a corner until his voice went hoarse to prepare for a scene in "Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub." 

As his character in the film is bound and held captive for a long time, his voice "just wasn't the kind that could just come out naturally," the actor told reporters in a roundtable interview on Monday.

“I actually lost my voice quite a bit, [but I also] deliberately went into a corner and screamed a lot,” Byun said.

The actor also spent about five months exercising vigorously and eating clean for his role. He said he had to create two distinct physiques for Jang Tae-young, a natural-born gambler whose instinct, charm and good fortune have carried him through life, until betrayal by a close friend sends him crashing down — one slightly heavier but still solid, and another leaner and tougher after his descent.

“I think suffering shows [on screen],” he said.

It was just some of the preparation Byun put himself through for “Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub.” Adapted from a comic series by legendary cartoonist Huh Young-man, the film is the fourth and final installment in a hugely popular movie franchise that began in 2006 and has spawned iconic scenes and catchphrases still quoted today. 

Byun said he definitely felt the weight of expectations. But the challenge also gnawed at him, and he approached the film with the mindset that “even doing well would only be par for the course — doing badly was not an option.”

“I thought that if I avoided [this role], I might end up becoming an actor who only does the kind of acting I want to do,” Byun added. “I think I grow when I take on difficult projects.”

Even so, when he first got the script for the fourth "Tazza" movie, he questioned himself, “Could I do it well? Could I make it my own? But what even is my own style?" 

He found the answer with the people on set including Roh Jae-won, who plays opposite Byun as his friend-turned-enemy, Park Tae-young. The movie, featuring a global cast that includes rising Japanese star Ayaka Miyoshi, centers on the two's high-stakes international poker game involving players from Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

Before shooting, Byun said he and Roh promised each other: “Let’s make this our own. Let’s bring your experience and mine together. It may be a franchise with a long history, but let’s make it ours.”

“If someone was going to close [the franchise’s] door, I wanted it to be me,” Byun said.

“Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub" is also opening over the Chuseok holiday, one of the biggest windows for domestic theatrical releases, putting it up against formidable competition, including a movie fresh off a Silver Lion win at Venice, Lee Chang-dong's "Possible Love."

Byun said he was rooting for all of the Korean films in the holiday lineup, saying there is still “a bond between us as Korean films.”

That sense of solidarity came in part from a shared frustration with the broader reality facing Korean movies, which often have to compete with much bigger-budget Hollywood releases. Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster “The Odyssey,” for instance, surpassed 10 million admissions in Korea this month — only the second film this year to reach the threshold long regarded as a benchmark for blockbuster success in the country, following domestic film "The King's Warden."

“To be completely honest, it’s frustrating that we constantly have to compete with foreign films when the difference [in scale] is almost incomparable,” Byun said. “But what can you do? We have to accept it."

“I just hope audiences get to see all these different worlds and enjoy them,” he said of Korean films.

Byun himself has had no shortage of such projects in theaters this year. Though, as he stressed, their release dates were hardly his doing, his 2026 slate has included the Netflix Korea original “Pavane,” a special appearance in “The Journey to Gyeongju” and Lee Joon-ik’s “My Father’s Table" before the thrillers "The Uninvited" and "Shaving" hit theaters later this year.

Byun says a part of him taking on more challenges in his acting career was a sense of "ease" he found through his marriage. The actor married Tiffany, a member of the girl group Girls' Generation, in February.

In Monday's interview, he flashed a wedding ring on his left hand and smiled widely after a reporter asked him about it.

“People tell me a lot these days that I look more at ease, and that I’ve become more of a man. I really do feel at ease," he said.

The two are supportive of each other’s work, Byun said, and their years in the industry have given them an understanding of what the job can demand — including more intimate scenes, such as Byun's in the upcoming R-rated film.

“She knows the process I went through preparing for it, so she supports that process and supports me a lot. She trusts me,” he said.

“Marriage has a very big meaning in my life. I want to balance things well, protect the person I love and my family, and also be an actor who does his work well."

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]