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[Official] Soo-Ha & Hye Sung Couple (Lee Jong Suk & Lee Bo Young)

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LJS FOR HIGH CUT (SEP ‘17) - PART 1

Translation note: Honest af as always. [Part 2[

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lee Jong Suk’s silhouette against back lighting is slender in an almost surreal way. Even as he says, “heh heh I had ramyun before sleeping last night”, his face remains small and fair. It makes one think of what Park Hoon-jung director-nim said, “He has the visuals of the son of a medieval-era royalty”. In the poster for ‘VIP’ (in cinemas from Aug 24), veteran actors like Jang Dong Gun, Kim Myung Min and Park Hee Sun all look serious, but Lee Jong Suk, who plays the part of a serial killer, smiles brightly despite blood stains on his face. For ‘While You Were Sleeping’ (scheduled to air in September), he plays the role of a 29-year-old prosecutor, for the first time; one can still remember his young face when he played the 19-year-old Sooha who could hear other’s thoughts. Eight years after his debut, Lee Jong Suk’s boyish image is starting to take a turn.

Q. Just now I heard from within the industry that there are rumours that Lee Jong Suk’s acting in ‘VIP’ is really good.

LJS: I haven’t seen the film yet… I think not many people have even seen it yet so why would there be this kind of rumour…(laughs)

Q. It’s your first villain role since debut. Your role as serial killer Kwang-il is more accurately described not as a person, but as a monster with no tact. It’s a character that is seldom presented in Korean cinema.

LJS: As a point of reference, the director recommended some films for me to watch, including ‘American Psycho’, ‘Seven’ and ‘Sicario’. I watched them but they didn’t really help all that much (laughs) I tried hard not to repeat the serial killer image that a lot of people are familiar with, but once I started acting, the same things started coming out. The director told me to stop doing that and try doing my dialogue with ‘half air half voice’. Since I am acting in a tone I am not familiar with, I was actually really worried. Even in post-production recordings, I didn’t get to record the dialogue again.

Q. I read through the script and it did not mention why Kwang-il became the kind of person he is. But since you are acting it out, you must have set up some background for yourself?

LJS: A lot of actors would write out a history for their own character, but there is not a lot of chances for me to do that for this movie. I can’t really put in my own thoughts and I didn’t do so. Approaching the end, I stopped thinking about it and just followed the instructions of the director. I think movies are a director-led art form.

Q. In your previous works like drama ‘Doctor Stranger’ and movie ‘As One’, you have as a North Korean before. But since your setup is “the son of highly-placed North Korean officials who has spent a long time overseas”, you probably needed to speak differently this time.

LJS: Since I have a bit of confidence in acting with North Korean dialect, I read the script without fear. The dialect can sound a little muffled in the ends of sentences, “Have you had dinner?” would become “Have you had dinr?” , something like that. But the director said not to do that so I started to think deeply. How should I do it? To be a North Korean but not allowed to use the dialect? In the end, I used a tone that I have never heard before, which is Seoul dialect but with some North Korean dialect mixed in.

Q. There’s also a lot of English dialogue.

LJS: The director emphasized that I had to “speak English as fluently as a native speaker”. Thus, I listened to recordings of native speakers for thousands of times. I also went for English lessons. But I just can’t manage to pronounce it exactly like a native, even if you beat me to death. I said, “Director-nim, I think this is going to need to rerecorded in post-production…” but he said it’s not needed. Ah, I’m so scared.

Q. He probably said so since your pronunciation was okay, right?

LJS: No, since there people from the US branch of Warner Brothers at the film set, I went to ask them how my pronunciation was. They couldn’t answer in a comforting manner and just said, “Um, we can understand what you’re saying…” (eruptive laughter) I felt a little sullen, since I really prepared very hard…

Q. From what I heard at the production press conference, you contacted the director directly expressing your interest right after you read the script.

LJS: I was searching for a role where I can act with sunbae actors; it’s okay even if I can’t be the main character. After I read the script of ‘VIP’ I met with the director and said “I am okay with taking a supporting role”, but then the director replied, “yes, but this role you are going for is actually the title role.”

Q. Director Park Hoon-jung, veteran actors like Jang Dong Hun, Kim Myung Min and Park Hee Sun all gave lots of praise to Jongsuk-ssi’s acting.

LJS: No, on that day, it was weird how they praised me a lot.  In the future, I actually want to participate more in movies where I can act with many sunbaes. When I did ‘The Face Reader’, I didn’t learn as much from the sunbaes because I was too timid, but this time, I received a lot of help from them while I was acting.

Q. Who helped you the most?

LJS: Kim Myung Min-sunbaenim. Before, I was too shy so I found it hard to ask for anything but this time, I just let it all go and followed sunbaes around. I would ask, “There are these stage directions on the script, but what kind of expression should I be doing?” Then Kim Myung Min-sunbaenim would explain it to me in a detailed way. He won’t say general things like, “So there’s this kind of feeling, right? Remember that scene from that Christian Bale movie?” but he would say, “Jongsuk-ah, within this particular scene, for this direction, I think it would be okay to focus on your expressions below the eyes.” He gives this level of detailed advice (laughs)

Q. From the perspective of sunbaes, they must be pleased that younger actors ask for advice so honestly.

LJS: The sunbaes all touched my heart. Park Hee Sun-sunbaenim are still in a lot of projects these days and it’s easy to see why directors clamour to work with him. We don’t have many scenes together but I observed him when he came on set to watch the rough edits. His dignified aura is on a different level, even though he isn’t very tall, you look up to him. It must be his charisma.

As for Jang Dong Gun-sunbaenim… first things first, he is just too handsome. (laughs) He is famous for having a good personality. There were many moments when I would be like, “Ah, that’s why he’s Jang Dong Gun…” Even if it should be me who goes to him first, he would come to me on set. Actually, both me and him are both rather introverted and awkward around strangers, but he put in effort to make me feel more comfortable. After the final filming, I shyly sent him a message, “I really really thank you and respect you so much” and he replied, “Call me hyung” and “I won’t be a sunbae that disappoints you”. He is really so charismatic, I fell for him.

Q. But when you are on set, you have to act against these wonderful sunbaes, right? Did you work hard to not get pulled into their pace?

I didn’t have to work on that, because sunbaes really helped make it easier. I was more worried about watching my step when I did ‘The Face Reader’, but now that I have a few more years of experience, I feel more at ease.

Q. When you were filming, were there moments when you felt “I’ve improved in acting“?

LJS: It’s the last scene I filmed as Kwang-il. I‘d been thinking about how to do that scene since the script-reading, but I still couldn’t place a finger on it. In the end, Kim Myung Min-sunbaenim came to me and said, “Jongsuk-ah, how about trying to do the scene this way?” I slapped my knee and realised that’s how I should do it. Two months later, we filmed that scene across two days. After the first day, my voice was gone. The acting of the sunbaes was so heavy and concentrated that even being on the receiving end, I was overtaxing myself.

Actually, while acting out the character of Kim Kwang-il, I often felt quite stifled, because I thought that I could being more life into the character by doing it a certain way but the director disagrees. But for this scene, he had no specific instructions, so I was allowed to do as I wanted. (laughs) As I did the scene, I felt, “Yes, at least for this scene, I feel like I am acting for real.” The director also wrote the script so I always trust that he has a picture in his mind about every scene. But I find it hard to trust myself.

LJS FOR HIGH CUT (SEP ‘17) - PART 2

Translation note: This kid is too funny, the only thing he goes into a slump for is acting. [Part 1]

~*~*~*~*~*~

Q. After ‘VIP’ ended its shoots in January, you went into the filming of the drama ‘While You Were Sleeping’. This is the third time you have worked on a project with Park Hye Ryun screenwriter. I heard you said okay without even reading the scenario?

LJS: I trust Park Hye Ryun writer-nim a lot. She wrote a short high school drama before ‘WYWS’ and even though I was in China at that time, I watched that too. I really like her work even as an audience member. In my opinion, she is the writer who can produce the best work within this pre-production system. After the last scene for ‘WYWS’, even though I felt shy, I wrote her a message saying, “The best decision in my life was to meet writer-nim” and she replied “Ai-yoo, thank you~”.

Q. You are taking the role of Jaechan, a 29-year-old prosecutor who is new on the job. It’s totally opposite to Kim Kwang-il.

LJS: The specialty of Park Hye Ryun writer-nim’s work is that her characters will undergo growth. This is not a drama about fighting for great power, but based on episodes we can see on the news. My role is that of a prosecutor and also the one who introduces the audience to these cases. Rather than a role that shows off specific character traits, it is a role that wraps up the drama itself as a whole. This is a new experience for me. If you try to separate dramas into two different categories, there are those who focus on characters and those who focus on stories, this belongs to the latter category.

Q. You were the original ‘chemistry fairy’, so how was it to work with Bae Suzy? It must be nice to go from acting with hyung-nims to acting in a romance?

LJS: Ah, I like acting with hyung-nims even more. (laughs) Suzy is very beautiful so it is easy to get into the emotions. (explosive laughter) We work well together.

Q. Suzy’s character in the drama, Hong-joo, can see the future. If you had the ability to see the future, what would you want to see?

LJS: The future? I would want to see it but it’s probably better not to. In the X-Man series, people with superpowers are treated as mutants, so I think I’d rather live normally.

Q. If Lee Jong Suk of the past saw the Lee Jong Suk now, would he have chosen the path of being an actor.

LJS: I’ve become unsure lately. Maybe it’s good to try something else. When you read interviews by sunbaes, they always say that acting gets harder the more you do it. Now I am beginning to understand why they say so. Ah, I’m not trying to complain but it is really not easy. I’ve said it since I debuted that I might run a coffee shop if I didn’t become an actor… it’s still my dream career now.

Q. Are you in a slump? It seems that you have a lot of worries.

LJS: I’ve always had a bit of an inferiority complex and it’s hard to overcome. Every time when I feel inferior and depressed, if I don’t escape from it and instead delve deeply into it, I end up growing as an actor. I was the most unhappy in the winter of 2013 (TN: meaning early 2013), leading to the great success of ‘School 2013′ and ‘IHYV’, which made me so busy that I didn’t even have time to sleep. After that period of busyness, I became empty and depressed – it was a period when I cried a lot. Then I did ‘Doctor Stranger’; if you watch the first four episodes, I feel I did pretty well. (laughs) It seems I grew a bit then.

Q. It’s well-known that you would memorise the dialogue of shows that you like, even if you didn’t act in them. Is there any new dramas that you do that for since ‘The Time Between Dog and Wolf’?

LJS: ‘Secret Forest’. Jo Seong Woo-sunbaenim is really too cool. Especially the part in Episode 1 or 2, when he shouted, “You knew he was dead (죽을 거 알았잖아)!” (TN: I didn’t watch SF so I’m not sure about the trans…) I originally watched the show as reference since I was playing a prosecutor in ‘WYWS’. Ah, that really can be called acting. I felt inferior immediately since I can’t do it to that level. (laughs) I have so much respect. 

Ah, and I also cried after watching ‘Your Name’ (Japanese anime movie) recently; the part where the main characters couldn’t remember each other’s names is just too sad. Their acting is just too good also. “Why is it that anime characters can have such good acting?!” then I feel inferior again. (explosive laughter on set)

Q. I reread your interview with ‘High Cut’ last year. You said that you are fighting hard on the battlefield but also saving up for future retirement. You also said you were worried every day about finding the natural order of daily life.

LJS: Did I say something that cool? It must have been reorganised a bit. What I’ve been saying the most since last year is to ‘let’s talk about something interesting’. Whenever I am not filming, my life is so boring and meaningless. I always ask my mom everyday, “Mom, what did you do today?” Rather than saying that I want to hear interesting things, I am just curious about the minute details of other’s lives.

Q. So Jongsuk-ssi feels like there isn’t anything interesting except acting?

LJS: Yes. But even for acting, it feels more frustrating than interesting right now. (laughs)

Q. In the meantime, you are coming to your thirties. What to do? (laughs)

LJS: When I was a new actor, I said in my interviews that I wanted to be in my thirties soon. Because that is the true starting line for a male actor. But now that I am really approaching it, I feel like I can particularly relate to the lyrics of ‘Around 30′ by Kim Kwang-seok. (to surrounding staff) Noona, did you have this feeling? Hyung didn’t you have this feeling also? You see, everyone feels the same way.

Q. When you think of actor Lee Jong Suk, there is the image that he has visible growth with every project he does. What is your own opinion?

LJS: I also thought that I was still growing, but the truth is I stopped improving for some time. It’s some time before ‘W’? I choose to participate in projects that I find interesting to watch, so I review my own works often. But from a certain time onwards, I find that I have stopped in my tracks, and only started gathering the requisite and mechanical skills that you get from experience. I would find myself thinking, “I only need to do this much to express what’s written in this stage direction” or “perhaps the audience would like it if I expressed in this way”. Therefore, ‘VIP’ was a fresh experience for me, though it was hard.

Q. Then ‘VIP’ is the breakthrough point for the so-called stop in your growth as a 29-year-old actor?

LJS; Yes, I must live on. (laughs) I went for it without regrets, and I’m psychologically ready to face criticisms if they come.

~*~*~*~*~*~

TN: As usual, he is his own harshest critic, but I must admit I am relieved that he knows he is plateaued a bit in W and is willing to course-correct. It takes courage, but he has always been brave as an actor. Fighting! :D

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