Byung-hun shares thoughts on roles and looks on set
SEOUL: Actor Lee Byung- hun, who has been making a name for himself internationally with his roles in major Hollywood productions like the ‘ G. I Joe’ series and most recently in ‘Magnificent Seven’, is returning to Korean screens next week.
In the action movie ‘ Master’, which opens on Wednesday, Lee plays a president of a company who made a fortune by playing tricks and using his ties with political and business figures to pull strings, while also being chased by the police.
“The character I play in this movie could really exist in the real world, and it would be easy to find someone like the character, so it gave me another level of fun playing him,” said Lee in a recent interview with a local daily.
It is the first time in eight years for Lee to play a villain in a Korean movie. While he has played villains in his roles in Hollywood films, he explained that all of those characters were complex and that towards the end, they usually had a reason for being evil or eventually changed their ways.
“Actors not only have a thirst for something that’s never been done, but also feel some restlessness when they try something they have never tried,” he said.
“But actors do also feel thrilled for doing so, e v e r y t hi ng that is new is something that we have curiosity in.”
During the interview, he also shared his thoughts on working with fellow Korean actors. In the movie, he worked with other actors that are well known for their looks, namely Kang Dong-won and Kim Woo-bin. But the veteran actor said he never felt threatened by their looks. “I have never really cared much about the looks of the acting partners while working,” he said. “Of course I keep on thinking that ‘I need to look cool because people are watching me’ but such thoughts don’t really stick when I fi lm.” He added that as an actor, it is necessary to think that he needs to look good at an event on stage wearing something good, but his thought process completely changes when he is on a set fi lming a movie or television show.
“It’s been long since the last time I worried about how I looked when I fi lm.” The actor also shared that he doesn’t really make plan or set goals for himself to achieve.
“Setting a goal doesn’t mean that you get to go to where you want to go,” he said. “And especially for actors, who have little certainty about what their next step will be.” He also warned that actors need to step up and admit if they have not performed at their highest level.
“Of course I also try to put myself in someone else’s shoes and understand the other people’s point of view, but I find myself rationalizing what I did in the end,” Lee said.
“For instance, even if I (failed to capture the character) and questioned and regretted my actions, the moment someone pinpointed that scene (in the film) and told me that I did something poorly, I was likely to come up with some sort of excuses instead of admitting my error and saying ‘yes I wasn’t so good back then.’”