[TRANS] 130818 High Cut Magazine – Lee Jong Suk

Translated by hitoritabi

Shared by hyunsuks @ ljsworldwide

TAKE OUT WITH FULL AND PROPER CREDITS.

The August sun is searing hot. Lee Jong Suk has a facial expression that says he has given up on everything. In this baking weather, even those wearing sleeveless shirts and shorts become drenched in sweat, so the position of a person wearing multiple thick coats and jackets can be imagined. Lately, Lee Jong Suk has been to such a degree that stamina is a must.

In September 2012, ‘The Face Reader’ began filming; in November, ‘School 2013’ started, so he ended up acting in both projects at the same time. As production on ’School’ ended in January and ‘The Face Reader’ ended in April, he immediately entered the filming of movie ‘No Breathing’ in May. At that moment, the drama that was thought to have fallen through suddenly got a broadcast date in June — this was SBS’ ‘I Hear Your Voice’; again placing him in the life of filmiing two projects at once. Then, when the popularity of ‘I Hear Your Voice’ led to a two-episode extension, he found himself starting work on another movie, ‘Hot Blooded Youth’, without even a moment to cool his heels.

Between September 2012 and August 2013, he acted in two dramas and three movies. Besides ‘The Face Reader’, his roles in all the other projects are all lead lead characters. When you ‘read the face’ of Lee Jong Suk, it seems that he will be ‘no breathing’ for quite awhile — going without the time to take a breath.

The IHYV team have all gone on a celebration trip now, and you’re the only one left behind, are you feeling regretful?

I had to go to the Phillipines to film the movie. They called from where they were staying, and asked me to go to Phuket. Writer Park Hye-ryun said to me, “Because Jongsuk is not here, the conversation isn’t interesting. You should come quickly!” Although I really wanted to go, there was no way I could. There wasn’t even time to take a break, I just had to march straight on.

Before, when I finished a drama, I would feel emptiness for quite awhile, but this time there wasn’t even the emotional space for that. As I went back and forth between the movie set and the drama set, I felt like I couldn’t focus completely, which is something I do regret. Filming two projects at the same time seems to have brought a negative impact on both sides.

Truth be told, many actors only appear in one projects per year. Jong Suk-ssi is trying to do five years’ work in one year.

Near the end of last year, I said that my goal was to be in two dramas and two films this year. And somehow, the goal got accomplished. Now the problem is whether the results will be good or not.

Jung Woong-in said at the celebration party, “Whoever doesn’t drink tonight is dead. Those who only eat meat are also dead.”

That is what Jung Woong-in sunbae said many times when we were doing the scene on the roof, and he kept saying that “we must get a drink together at the celebration party”. But because of ‘No Breathing”s filming schedule, I was only there for the first part of the party and skipped out on the second half. (sigh) I couldn’t stay till the break of dawn, and even during the drama, I didn’t have much time to hang out with them.

Though it would seem that all the suffering you went through was rewarded in the same degree. Lee Jong Suk as an actor could be divided into the pre-‘IHYV’ and post-‘IHYV’ eras.

After ‘School’ ended, there were so many offers for student roles. If I may exaggerate slightly, nearly every single student character in Korean television and film came rolling in. From my perspective, since I have already played a student in ‘High Kick 3’ and ‘School 2013’, I felt like I should avoid student roles at all costs.

But then ‘IHYV’ came knocking. Although I hadn’t read the script yet, I knew that the genre was fantasy and it was about a high school student with supernatural power; I was instantly attracted by that aspect. The problem was that while I was reviewing the materials for ‘IHYV’, the production process suddenly hit a dead-end at its original broadcast station. So it was with a heavy heart that I chose to do ‘No Breathing’ instead.

Then, all of a sudden, ’IHYV’ was moved from KBS to SBS. By that time, I had already signed on to do a film, so what could I do? It would be such a pity to let it go. So I told them, if the two sides can work out a filming schedule, I must try and do both, no matter how tiring. If you look at the results, the drama was met with great success, so I feel like I had caught a tremendous lucky break there.

Is here a moment when you felt that your popularity has really become something else?

After ‘IHYV’ finished airing, I went online to look at the response. And in the list of most popular news articles, all of the top 10 articles — from 1 to 10 — were about ‘IHYV’. I even took a screen capture of it. (laughs)

Lee Bo Young and you act so well as a couple. Although there is a large age difference, your relationship didn’t feel awkward but rather gives a romantic feeling. However, she recently announced that she is going to marry Ji Sung. Normally, when your real sister get gets married, you would dislike the person who is to become your brother-in-law and there is also a sense of sadness. How did you feel when you heard the news of her marriage?

I already knew she was getting married. She had told me that she was getting married. She asked me to make time for the wedding on 27th September, and said that she would announce the wedding the day after the drama ended. To me, Boyoung-noona is truly like an older sister. The director and our family on set all agree that we are like real siblings. So it is the feeling of seeing your older sister getting married.

In all honesty, this experience with noona was the first time I have had such a perfect love story in a drama. Before, it was always guy-guy relationships or unrequited affection. Since there is a ten years age difference between us, I was initially so worried about how to show the emotions. It is all thanks to noona leading me so well that I was able to do it to the end.

For ‘School’, you have once said that the scene where you read Na Tae Joo’s ‘Flower’ was when “the previously vague character come vividly into my body”. Were there any scenes in ‘IHYV’ that made you feel the same way?

Strangely, I did not feel that for this drama. I heard a lot of people say things like, “his acting has really improved”, “the rediscovery of Lee Jong Suk”. But to be truthful, even by episode 18, I was still thinking to myself, “Am I doing well?”

When doing ‘School’, I really felt like, “I am Go Namsoon”, and was immersed completely in the character, but when doing ‘IHYV’, I wasn’t sure I was doing well, up till the very end. But no matter what, whether it’s ‘School”s Go Namsoon or ‘IHYV”s Park Sooha, they are both great characters that I had the supreme fortune of receiving.

A few days ago, you wrote on SNS, “Now that I am on the ‘No Breathing’ set, I miss Jjang-byun even more”.

It may not have been most appropriate, but I am only human. No matter how you slice it, I was on the drama set for much longer hours, and increasingly, I found myself immersed in the character of Park Sooha. Since I always put myself in the shoes of Sooha, I also felt the way Sooha felt, which is why I wrote something like that.

 

Your female acting partner in ‘No Breathing’ is SNSD’s Yuri, she might be disappointed to hear you say those words.

Hahaha, I get along very well with Yuri. Actually, the fact that we are a group of similar-aged actors in one movie, it gives me a sense of responsibility to work even harder. Conversely, in the drama, I felt like I was being carried by Bo Young-noona, so it was easier by comparison. This is my first time acting as a true lead actor, so I am determined to display things I haven’t shown before.

In ‘No Breathing’, you and Seo In Guk are not only rivals in swimming but also in love, since you fall in love with the same woman and fight for her attention. What is it like in real life?

I was quite shocked. The members of this movie include In Guk-hyung, Yuri and Dal Shabet’s Ah Young. Truth be told, the public are a bit fearful of singers joining the acting arena, right? Moreover, I’m not a 100% mature actor myself and there are still many things lacking in my acting, so I was rather worried.

But In Guk-hyung completely breaks the preconceptions of everyone. His acting is so good that I was shocked and became even more motivated. I didn’t know that hyung’s acting would be that natural, and he would raise his opinion to the director; he has a lot of passion for acting and puts hard work into it.

When I am filming, I would have moments when I would feel that “this should be represented like this in the scene”; but even after I discuss with the director, I am the type of person who would ultimately bend to the director’s demands. Sometimes I would think “films are ultimately a director’s art”, but sometimes I’ll also go up to the director and ask, “shouldn’t this part be like this?”… but in the end, I don’t have the confidence to do it just according to my own instincts. In this aspect, In Guk-hyung does very well.

Your role in the movie is based on Park Tae Hwan (T/N: one of the most famous swimmers in Korea), the kind of swimmer who can take gold medals in international competitions, so I naturally assumed you could already swim.

I really couldn’t swim. Before this, I couldn’t even float in water. When I was considering this project, the director had convinced me with the words, “Swimming is the only sport in the world where you wouldn’t be able to tell even if we used stunt doubles”. But when we got to actual filming, this was not the case at all. Even with body doubles, I have to film many scenes in the water and on the side of the pool. Phew. But In Guk-hyung grew up in a seaside city, so he swims very well.

Swimming and acting at the same time must have been tiring.

Before filming started, I kept training and training. Now I can do freestyle pretty well, but I couldn’t do the other things — like the leap into the water — to the level that I wanted. This time, we were filming a training camp session in the Philippines so we had to do a lot of swimming, which began to wear my body down. But if I even let the tiniest bit show, then the whole scene will be ruined, so I just had to finish the scene as quickly as possible. If I can’t complete all the acting goals in one or two takes, then it becomes impossible for me to deliver that perfect pose. Sports movies are really exhausting.

You played a table tennis player in ‘Korea’. Is swimming more tiring than table tennis?

A swimming movie is much more tiring. It’s because you have to keep taking off your clothes for a swimming movie, it’s so tiring that you want to die. Since I was afraid that my stomach would stick out, I cannot eat whatever I wanted, making the whole thing even more depressing. Once I gain fat, it all goes to my abdomen, and I was so afraid of my stomach sticking out… Add this to filming the drama at the same time, and my weight really took a straight dive. I wasn’t eating anything but chicken breast, so the diet made me even more tired. When you watch the movie, you might think my body looks fine, but you can see even with the naked eye that my weight fluctuates a lot during the filming.

In September, the movie you acted in with famous veterans like Song Kang-ho, Lee Hye Soo and Lee Jung Jae, ‘The Face Reader’, is going to be in theatres. You are going to be the son of Joseon’s most famous face reader, who is played by Song Kang-ho. Have you ever gotten your face read or fortune told?

I’ve never went, but I think my mother had once gotten my fortunes read. I was 20 years old then, and the fortune teller said that I will become successful at 25. But, I’m 25 years old now… when I think of that now, wow, I get startled. (laughs) When I was filming ‘The Face Reader’, I keep thinking if these things are real or not.

‘The Face Reader’ will be in theatres in September, ‘No Breathing’ in October. I hear that the movie you are working on now, ‘Hot Blooded Youth’, is aiming for a release date of February next year. Your schedule really has no room for rest at all.

The timing has been rather intriguing. However, as I continued working on these projects, I realized that ‘No Breathing’ and ’Hot Blooded Youth’ are all high school student characters, and I start to really get worried about “breaking free from this kind of image”. Or else I really might get typecasted. Of course, all of the roles are ones that I won’t be able to portray in the future if I don’t do it now. (laughs)

After ‘IHYV’ ended, there are a new batch of dramas coming out, but audiences seem to linger in the afterglow of Park Sooha and Jjang-byun still.

I am that way too. Even though the writer and a lot of people was against it, the fact is we got extended for two episodes and some people said they have an illness for the drama, it is all representative of the immense love we have received from the audience. For me, it is a piece of work that will linger in my heart for a long time to come.