Esquire Korea (Nov 2017) Interview Translation (Part 2)
It was filmed before WWYS, right? You did two really different characters one after the other.
In the first half of WWYS, I was lost. I tried to be different and I think I am more lost because of that.
Since VIP have solved your problems about acting to a certain extent, then you should be able to act more freely compared to before?
If you ask me what sort of burden I have, this is my third piece of work by Writer Park Hye Ryun. As a fan, I love writer-nim’s work, but I think I need to be different from my previous roles. Dramas written by the same writer with the same male lead, if I am the same as before, then I will become a nuisance for writer-nim. However, I am watching the drama and found it interesting. This is the first time I did a pre-produced drama like this. In the past, I am used to looking at the feedback and then I sometimes strengthen my emotions in the next episode compared to the previous one, but this time the drama was filmed from the beginning straight till the end, that is also unfamiliar for me. I am watching it as if I am watching a drama of someone else.
That is really high dimension of meditation. Viewing myself and my emotions objectively.
I think I grew up through my works. I feel that I was growing, either in acting or as a person, then suddenly I see the moment when it stopped? I feel like I was standing at the edge of a cliff.
Why did you push yourself to that extent? Can’t you loosen up a bit and enjoy it?
The feeling that I am growing originated from my sense of inferiority. I look at myself and then I start to compare myself with others, and so the sense of inferiority appears, and I am irritated by the sense of inferiority. That is how I came to this place step by step. Therefore, when I get this question “Why to this extent?”, I think about this and I don’t know why. However, I think “I want to do well”, “I hate being embarrassed” are the most important factors here.
You said “Male actors with more angular and clear facial features will age better, but my face is not like that”, do you still think like that?
Yes, I still think like that. Even if one is not acting, just from the angle you can feel a certain pressure? For example, Kim Myung Min sunbae’s role, cursing someone while holding a cigarette in his mouth, I can do that in a different way, but there is the feel it gives? I have more slender features, to overcome that, I need acting skills, but my acting ability is still inadequate, so it is this sense of regret.
Actor’s acting ability comes from direct and indirect experience, you didn’t have time to rest after debut, did you? You have enjoyed the time like that?
However, when you look back, the time when you was exhausted.
Up till now, through TV, through other drama, sunbaes’ acting and looking at the world in dramas, I feel and get an indirect experience through these emotions. Using these emotions as the foundation, I have acted up till now. And now that I am in my late 20s, I got familiar with many things now through my brain, however, I don’t have a lot of experiences as Lee Jong Suk himself.
Feeling like you have used up your capital?
I got this feeling that I have used up all my familiar experiences I got up till now. And so recently I think about the trivial experiences as Lee Jong Suk this person. Not the actor, but about Lee Jong Suk, I have not think about him before.
