Esquire Korea (Nov 2017) Interview Translation (Part 2)

Part 1 here

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?

Of course.

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.

(Original Interview)

Esquire Korea (Nov 2017) Interview Translation (Part 1)

Really noisy loneliness

Not even rested properly for once. Successful in all his dramas, drawing a sharp turning point through his movie. Record of conversation at 3pm with Lee Jong Suk, who as a star has no space to be lonely anywhere in the world, suddenly talked about fatigue and loneliness .

Lee Jong Suk has now become an actor who is impossible to predict. And the really surprising thing is that things are accomplished the way Lee Jong Suk has intended.

Rather than talking about my intention, I do think about my direction a lot in different stages. About my present situation and the direction I am going. To me, the self called Lee Jong Suk is really… I do a lot of monitoring on my work, I think a lot about Lee Jong Suk every day, I am working very hard to take a step away from this person called Lee Jong Suk.

As an actor, also as a person?

I get a lot of questions like this when I am interviewed? My strengths or what I want to praise myself about. Viewing myself objectively, now I can talk about a few of my weaknesses but it takes a bit of time to think about my strength.

So did you find it?

Hmm… I think my brain is pretty good.

Director Park Hoon Jung also counted being smart as one of the strengths of Lee Jong Suk. I also got a similar feeling. A really clever actor.

It is not like that. Responding intuitively according to the tempo or nuances of the other’s lines, the decibel, it is intuition of animals? That is not my style of acting. I am very academic. My acting style relies on calculations. I should follow the feelings and just act according to that person, but I search a lot from the external…

If so, then when you acted with Kim Myung Min, there should be a very different feeling. Since he is an actor who got an established reputation based on his precision in acting.

I have never seen sunbae’s NG. There is never any problem in articulation and he never forget his lines. That is called method acting? During filming, one works on living like that character. That’s why I often followed him around. I asked a lot, “Sunbae-nim, I can’t do this, will it be good if I act like this?”

You said that because you really did not know, right?

Right. I am familiar with drama, so I often do things mechanically. Because I think If I use this expression, then it is already enough to explain this situation. I do not want to do this but I have never done it in another way, I need a way to breakthrough from myself, and I cannot find the answer so I need help.

What advice was the most memorable?

Practical advice. He taught me in really great detail. When I ask, “Sunbae-nim, this scene is an emotional outburst, but if I yell here then it seems a bit over, and the energy seems to dropping, how should I do it?” He does not answer like this, “There is this kind of feeling, why, you know that right?” He answered in this way, “If you move your muscle here, then your expression can be seen more clearly, and if you move your body this way, your emotions can be conveyed like this.” He gave me really practical advice.

Cine 21 VIP Lee Jong Suk Interview Translation

Q: The role of Kim Gwang-il in VIP is different from the classic serial murderer. The innocent smile of his left a special impression. 

A: There are lots of serial murderer and psychopaths in Korean movies. I worked hard not to use the expressions that have been seen elsewhere. I think it is possible to give a different feeling if I wear a pure smile while I am doing cruel acts. “Born in a well off family, he was not scolded when he killed a servant, but he would be scolded if he killed a cow because a cow is an asset. This is the way Gwang-il lives.” When I did this role, I bore in mind what director Park Hoon Jung said about Gwang-il

(Original interview)

VIP Preview Naver Link

Kim Myung Min “Lee Jong Suk is  lovely, asking questions non-stop”

(Source)

Kim Myung Min said, “Usually because people see that Jong Suk started from modellling, they can form pre-conceptions about him, but I prefer to judge after I see the person myself, so I did not have any pre-conception before I met him.”

“Jong Suk already did a few pieces of work well, that is why Park Hoon Jung director noted his performance and gave him this role of a villain. There is some sort of reverse charm inside Jong Suk.”

“When (you) watch VIP, (you) will be shocked. (You) can see Jong Suk’s new image. I felt that the director’s judgment is different after all.”

“Personally I like straightforward acting, in that aspect, when juniors are asking senior questions, they have to be fearless, that is not a question about self-esteem.”

“However, recently almost no juniors are willing to ask questions. The lovely thing about Jong Suk is that he is always asking non-stop ‘what is the good way to do this?” He is lovely.”

VIP promotion in Hong Kong International Film & TV Market

Park Hoon Jung Director Interview on Lee Jong Suk’s role in VIP

Q: As a suspect, the North Korean “V.I.P.” Kim Gwang Il became the title of the movie, this obscenity of this role is very strong. What is the reason for casting Lee Jong Suk in this role?

A: As you have said, that is the “title role”. Therefore, I want someone with the appearance that is really like “V.I.P.”. Someone who has not touched soil with his own hands when he grew up. someone who thinks everyone is beneath him, shall I say someone who feels like a medieval feudal lord’s only son? Actor Lee Jong Suk’s appearance fits the image of what I thought nobles ought to be like. By nature, it is a character that is of a great burden for an actor, so at first I hesitated a bit during the casting, however, he himself showed great enthusiasm for the character. In North Korea, for Gwang Il, apart from the people who are more superior to his father, he treats all others as slaves or servants, so he does not show his emotions to others. Lee Jong Suk usually shows great charm when he smiles but in this movie, instead of smiles, I always ask him to show cool or indifferent expressions.

(Source)

Lee Jong Suk confirmed to be in the movie VIP. Transforming into a bad guy.

On 19 August, according to YG Entertainment , Lee Jong Suk is confirmed to be in the movie VIP. In the movie VIP, a North Korean high ranking official's son commits serial murders around the world, and the movie is about how North and South Korean police and Interpol work together to catch this murderer. Lee Jong Suk will be doing the role of this bad character “Gwang Il” and is expected to have this shocking transformation. 

VIP is the next movie of Director Park Hoon Jung who was the director of New World and the Big Tiger, and the scriptwriter of the Unjust, I Saw the Devil. 

Source