LEE JOON GI interview for CINEM@RT - English translation
(sources - https://www.cinemart.co.jp/article/news/20211203005133.html
https://www.cinemart.co.jp/article/news/20211206005169.html)
Q. First of all, can you briefly describe your character Baek Hee-seong in Flower of Evil?
JG – Sure. As you already know from other sources, I play a man who hides his cruel past, changes his identity, makes a family of his own, and lives a life of lies, even lying to his wife – to the point of feigning his love for her. I thought that watching his story throughout the 16 episodes would evoke all sorts of feelings in you, such as tension and thrill [just as it did in me], and what’s what I focused on during the filming.
Q. What made you choose this project?
JG – It was not an easy decision to make. I asked myself, ‘Am I suited for this role?’ ‘At this point in my life or my acting career, am I not still too young to portray a character of such depth?’ (Laughs) I thought long and hard about it, and felt a lot of pressure. I just had a lot of people trying to convince me. It was a new challenge, and would become a turning point in my acting career. Also, Moon Chae-won cheered me on and suggested that I take it. Many told me that, even though this character, at the heart of the drama, would be challenging, it was the kind of role that only Lee Joon-gi could pull off and that it could be a great opportunity for me to broaden my range as an actor. I gave it a great deal of thought with that in mind, read the script thoroughly, and studied it for a long time.
Then, at some point, I realized that this was a very unique work and a tremendously amazing drama in which the two different sets of values – thriller and romance – collide; that this was indeed a challenge and an opportunity for me to grow [develop*] further. So I consider it a challenge I was to take on for my acting career. It was rather a challenge than a choice.
[*JG used the word ‘develop’ in his video interview (https://www.instagram.com/tv/CJQB_H7JKKG/)]
Q. We were told that for this drama, you avoided checking the monitors [monitoring] during the shoot. What made you decide to change your acting approach?
JG – When I first read the script, I was very worried and even scared about how I was going to portray this character to make viewers understand and convince them. I thought that, on one hand, my vessel [*] was still not big enough for me to pull this off; on the other, I couldn’t even picture in my head what this character should be like. No matter how much I thought about it, no matter how many times I read the script, I couldn’t shake off the pressure I felt. It was like this: there already have been so many psychopathic characters out there; if you make viewers think, ‘It’s just another psychopath character,’ then you would fail to get viewers’ attention right from the outset.
[*The ‘vessel’ is Joon-gi’s favorite metaphor that he’s often used to refer to his capacity or competence.]
JG (continued) – On top of that, the concept of this drama is a ‘suspense romance.’ So there had to be a completely different aspect of romance to this, and any one misstep could have made the work look slapdash. It would have been so weird if I had been like, ‘this is about putting on an act, so I will act naturally when it comes to pretending to love [Ji-won]’ one minute, and ‘As soon as I turn around, I become a psychopath’ the next. It would have been so dull and cliché. Once I had realized it, I thought, ‘No, that would not work.’
JG (cont) – Up until now, I tended to monitor my work thoroughly. I was the type of actor who would check back my work every time I heard ‘cut’. However, this time, I went ahead and abandoned my old methods. I thought, ‘This wouldn’t do. If I let my thoughts, eagerness, or overthinking get in the way, it would disrupt the balance of the whole drama.’ This time, I took it down a notch and wanted to give a performance that felt most relaxed and rather calm and dry. Also, I trusted my director the most on set and went along with the other actors I worked with on set. Because this character could be very different depending on the relationship he has to others. So I was mainly thinking, ‘That’s what I need to focus on,’ ‘I need to trust the staff and [the people] on set.’ I felt like, every time I tried to overthink and calculate, my performance ended up feeling too forced and too stiff.
JG (cont) – So I did a lot of thinking the day before each shoot, and rehearsed several times on set. I was trying to think and create together with every single person I trusted as I said earlier. Before the shoot began, for me it was like getting ready and deciding which direction to go before I started my car. So I focused more on the rehearsals, took my time, and stayed focused. Nothing was more important than staying focused on set; and then I left it all up to the director’s judgment.
Sure, I got curious about the take I had just filmed, just as any actor would; but I let it go, thinking, ‘It was okayed because it was good enough.’ When I forgot my lines or got my lines wrong, I would say, “I am sorry. Let’s do it one more time.” But other than that, I left it all up to the director. Instead, during the rehearsals, I talked everything through with the director before I gave my performance, as if I was in the middle of an audition.
So we put everything [the scenes] together during the shoot. As a result, we were able to get the scenes just the way the director intended and expected them to be, and some even surpassed our expectations. So I personally think it wasn’t such a bad choice [his new acting approach]. I thought, ‘I need to look at the bigger picture, instead of focusing solely on my own performance, and then delve naturally into the life of my character. And the rest of the work – it would all be done by the director, the editor, or many others.’
Actually, this time I watched the drama on TV from the point of view of my fans and viewers, feeling the same things they felt. I laughed and cried just like them, saying, ‘The director did such an awesome job.’ It was just so great. (Laughs) Really, I was so eagerly looking forward to each episode, just like any other fan of this drama. I don’t even remember all that clearly how the filming was like. What happened at that time, just stays there. We never let the filming drag on so… I cried watching the final episode. (Laughs)
Q. You were just one of those regular viewers.
JG – I’m glad [that I was]. Well, instead of feeling pushed around and forced to do something, I let go and focused on my job as an actor, which I think helped me a lot – to the point that, when I was watching myself, I thought, ‘Huh? I am acting differently than before. I have never acted like that before.’
Q. I guess this new challenge [approach] will continue to reflect in your next work.
JG – I think I will stick to this approach for the time being. In the past, I was a bit obsessed with this idea that a lead actor should not be just acting, but needed to think from and keep in mind the producers or director’s perspectives as well. Of course, to many people, I’d come across as very responsible and look great.
But among those seonbae-nim (senior actors) who dote on me, it looks like this particular seonbae was quite concerned about this, and told me, “Joon-gi, you need to look at things like a racing horse.” This seonbae would tell other actors, “Open up more.” But to me, that seonbae said, “Joon-gi, you need to close up a bit.” So I said, “Do I look so stressed out on set? I am having fun, though.” The seonbae said, “No, this is not the time you open up. You need to close up. You are ‘too’ open now.” So I wondered if I’d come across as a bit awkward. This time, however, when I took my chances and ‘closed up,’ I became convinced that this approach actually worked. It was also a way to discover a ‘new me.’ So I think the right way to put this is: ‘I need to let go a bit and put aside my eagerness.’
Q. What do you think Ji-won means to your character Baek Hee-seong?
JG – To Hyunsoo, she is light. The family he’s built with Ji-won is his first “home” in life [*in a permanent sense of the term]. He suffered so much in childhood, and Ji-won is a person he holds dear who has built this place for Hyun-soo, filling him with the affection he’s been deprived of. Ji-won literally means life to Hyun-soo.
To Hyun-soo, Ji-won is ‘light’ and ‘hope.’ And the family he’s built with Ji-won is the first ‘place to live’ [home] he has ever had in life. Living in it, he has found peace and warmth. As a child, he suffered so much and was treated so poorly and so deprived of love. However, it was not that he completely lost his emotional capacity, but rather that Ji-won filled up what he was lacking emotionally. Now, he’s created this place [home] with her, so she is a very important person to him. To him, she literally means life. However, up until he’s awakened to his emotions, for all of the 14 years he has lived thinking, ‘She protects me. Having her in my life keeps my life intact.’ In other words, she is the only hope for him. And after he’s realized he has feelings, she becomes his ‘light.’
That is why he [Hyun-soo/Hee-seong] considers her a really precious person to him. He thinks there is nothing he cannot do to protect his beloved wife and daughter; he has been so desperate to keep this life intact, to the point of abandoning his previous life and pretending to be someone else. It’s this way of thinking that makes him ready to throw away all he’s got. To him, she is a ray of light, hope, and life.
Q. So she’s like a savior to him. Are there any lines Ji-won says in the drama that particularly touched you?
JG – There were lots of lines and lots of scenes [that touched me]. Ji-won has never hesitated to stand up for Hee-seong. She has embraced his wounds and will go to any lengths to protect him, even if that means she has to face the brutal truths, either by denying or accepting those truths. I think there are more of such ‘scenes’ than ‘lines.’
However, if I had to choose from such ‘lines’… Well, Ji-won is the first person who shows interest in and affection for him after he has always been hiding away from people. Yet, he does not know what this feeling is, so he only finds it odd and feels out of place. But he feels what she feels for the first time when she kisses him, saying, “I will love you more. I will be really good to you.” And this is when the illusion [of his deceased father] or this sense of intimidation he has lived with starts to fade gradually – thinking, ‘Huh? How come I feel so comfortable? What kind of person is she? How come she can see me the way I am, without feeling alert or without any ‘barriers?’ I think those were the lines that prompted him to feel this ‘infinite love’ for the first time. [JG refers to the scenes from Episode 5, which also appear in flashback early in Episode 1.]
Q. So the words Ji-won says there sort of ‘switched on’ Hee-seong’s feelings and protected him.
JG – I guess she switched them on. Is it like she turned that switch on and off? (Laughs)
Q. There is this line you say in the drama: “I don’t know what my life is like.” What do you think of such a life where you become someone else? Also, Joon-gi, how do you want to live your life from now on?
JG – For me, living the lives of other people is my job. As long as it is simply about doing my job, then for me that is a happy thing to do. To ‘actor Lee Joon Gi,’ it is a happy thing, but I sometimes wonder, ‘What if I get pushed into a situation [as in the drama] where I must hide myself away?’ For instance, what if I am forced to run away and go live in another country or another place? Just as my character does in this drama. Would I be able to adapt to that new life, just as he has reset his life? I think that kind of life would be extremely hard.
Of course, humans have this adaptability, so I guess I could quickly adapt myself and become a member of that new society or live that new life. However, I think it is not easy to leave your home, where your roots essentially are, and live a new life, and I don’t think it would be a happy life, either. Eventually, I would end up coming back to find my roots. It’d be nothing but a life on the run. Just like Hee-seong I play here, I guess it would only be the journey of looking back on my life. (Laughs) That kind of life would not be easy but hard, and I hope I won’t live that kind of life. I do not want to live that kind of life, either. I want to be honest and face my life head-on, as ‘Lee Joon-gi’ just the way I am.
Q. Lastly, is there any message you want to give to your fans in Japan who are watching Flower of Evil?
JG – This is your actor Lee Joon-gi. Back in Korea, I was very thankful that the drama received so much love from many fans and viewers. We all did the best we could do, worked hard, and made a really wonderful drama. I hope you love the passion that went into it. I hope many stay tuned and watch Flower of Evil. Please do not miss it! To my Japanese fans, I know COVID-19 has been very hard on you guys, but please always stay healthy! I hope you stay healthy and always be happy. Thank you.
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