Actor Lee Min Ho said that a day like today (on the day of the interview) feels just like a holiday. He sat and positioned himself in a comfortable way, gave of his laugh that is very characteristic and talked about his work the way like a fisherman talks about fishing. He shares on what he had learned on his last drama, his beautiful works and the joy of acting.
ESQUIRE: “There’s something unique in your greetings, and since it seems that we’ve never met before.”
Lee Min Ho: “Oh, is that so?”
ESQUIRE: “Yes. Just like the greetings that you did there, ‘Hello~’ and ‘Good job~’ at the end of filming. There seems to be a unique melody within.”
Lee Min Ho: *laugh* “That's right. Probably it’s because I'm currently filming the drama 'Ask the Stars'. It was like a greeting on the way to work. I'm commuting to and from work every day like an office worker. Since we had set a fixed schedule for the filming, we went out at a scheduled time to film and shoot and then get off from work, living like an office worker.”
ESQUIRE: “That is even more surprising to hear. It is not easy for an office worker to maintain such a refreshing energy like you.”
Lee Min Ho: “Hahaha. On the set of the drama, of course there’s some dark energy *boom boom*. Then I guess it's because today I have a long break. I consider these photo shoots and interviews rather like a break.”
ESQUIRE: “There are many actors who find this kind of schedule (interview and photoshoots) more burdensome than their main job, but it seems to be a relatively comfortable feeling for Lee Min Ho.”
Lee Min Ho: “I think that the direction and way of thinking, concerns then would be slightly different. Each time I went for filming drama and go to the set, I seem to be thinking a lot of how I can express myself better, what this character will think, etc. Nevertheless, this could be problematic and came with its own disadvantages. Actually, the most difficult thing for me would be going to a scheduled event. To a place where a lot of people gather. It’s been over 10 years since I’ve tried to get used to it but maybe because of my over tendencies, it’s still awkward for me.”
ESQUIRE: “We though you looked very natural even in such a place, but it seems that it’s still difficult on the inside.”
Lee Min Ho: “People have asked me, ‘How can you afford to look like that? You look comfortable’, but then I took it as I look like I’m a little more comfortable in comparison to other actors. Because there are some actors who looks uncomfortable, even to the extent as seeming awkward while they are looking at their seniors or actors of the same age”
ESQUIRE: “We think that Lee Min Ho has a unique charm, looking natural and comfortable, just by looking and the mood/feed of your SNS (Social Networking Service).”
Lee Min Ho: *laugh* “I actually don’t enjoy looking like I was preparing and planning everything too hard, and then finish it all just by one-take. So, it seems that I prefer to pursue natural things.”
ESQUIRE: “Just like the diving video uploaded a while ago, that is also very natural. In fact, I was thinking of the “Xiao Long Bao” meme update, and I was wondering about the behind-the-scene video. But then, you upload it by yourself on the social media.”
Lee Min Ho: “Hahaha, that is correct. I went to try diving, but it fell apart like that. I tried to take a picture of myself eating a dumpling deliciously, but I didn’t know how to eat it at that time, so the juices fell out. It’s not that I was embarrassed or anything, it’s just very much fun.”
ESQUIRE: “But even so since you have more than 30 million followers, don’t you feel some kind of an automatic filter coming out in your brain? Does it require some kind of effort to look natural, or you’re just good at it?”
Lee Min Ho: “I guess that I’m just a person who doesn’t enjoy seeing things go the way they should be. Even when an answer has been fixed, I am the kind of person who think about how many ways are there to get there. However, when I was working, I was seen in a public eye as someone who are well prepared and refined. It was unintentional, that kind of image but I don’t have any intention to change it either. Just like what I have said before, I am the kind of person who have already a had a hard time with stereotypes, therefore when there are interesting moments going on in my daily life, I choose them to be uploaded. However, I still post things that I feel have come out great.”
ESQUIRE: “Some fans have actually felt bad and apologetic towards Lee Min Ho for having that kind of image. There were always such long comments on You Tube when it’s related to Lee Min Ho. Everyone who doesn’t know you well will think that you’re being treated as a Global Star but, in reality Lee Min Ho is actually a person who’s very friendly, fun and thoughtful.”
Lee Min Ho: “Apparently, there are quite a few long-time fans among my fans. Those fans know a lot of different aspects of me, I think that’s what you’re trying to say and referring to by the previous statement. I think I can accept their feeling sorry for the image of being too serious, not fun or outrageous. Like I have mentioned before, I am very easy to get bored. Most people who personally know me are already aware that I’m such an easy-going person but instead, it doesn’t mean that I will show it to them or anyone again. I’m used to this pattern, and I’m not thinking of a way or being frustrated to get out of it. It flows naturally, and in those terms, I’m trying to be the best person I can while not losing the center of who I really am.”
ESQUIRE: “This was the first time that we had another interview (between ESQUIRE and Lee Min Ho) in a year. What has changed the most about Lee Min Ho between that 1 year?”
Lee Min Ho: “First of all, I thought that I should have a lot of works for the rest of my 30s. The drama ‘Pachinko’ was released, and I’m already filming for a new drama. When it comes to a change, I think that it’s just based on my works. The rest are just those simple yet similar little things.”
ESQUIRE: “During last year’s interview and after watching other interviews afterwards, it seems that ‘Pachinko’ was such a big turning point for actor Lee Min Ho.”
Lee Min Ho: “Of course. It is a very significant turning point. Even before ‘Pachinko’, I was originally thinking that I have been active and quite stable without being overly conscious of other people’s opinion. But now, looking back at my way of thinking, it wasn’t really me. Therefore, since then, I am becoming a little bit more independent and freer. Right now, I can really say that I really don’t care about anyone’s opinion and looks at all, I am only thinking of what’s important for me.”
ESQUIRE: “How was ‘Pachinko’? Did you manage to see it?”
Lee Min Ho: “I am not sure. In fact, from a certain moment, I consider the part of how it looks to me as a personal feeling and therefore I put it as a secondary issue. Therefore, I am most satisfied with the fact and part that many people in the filming industry said that I was a good work. If the major opinion said that it was good and the general evaluation turned out good, I am satisfied enough.”
ESQUIRE: “We also think that ‘Pachinko’ is a work that should be considered as a classic. We actually tried to watch the episode where Lee Min Ho stood out yesterday but at the end, we watched it all over again.”
Lee Min Ho: *laugh* “Actually, it is indeed a rare drama in this day and age. If you deal with such a story and sense and with a that kind of speed, it could be considered inferior in terms of Box Office. I don’t come out very much often on it and even if came out often, we don’t want to end up with too much production cost. In that sense, there’s a pride in ‘Pachinko’. I really think that it is a work which deeply re-tell an essential part of history and especially, the story of the people.”
ESQUIRE: “You really took pride in the work.”
Lee Min Ho: “I sincerely think that it is very meaningful for this kind of work came out in the world, in this day and age. There are people who have work very hard to get to where they are right now, and I feel that they are really great. Knowing that fact, I also put a lot of thought into trying to do my best, with a sincere heart. What’s the problem here is that this is just the beginning. In Season 2, the character of Go Hansu has a lot of major tasks and therefore, all of us will need to prepare well.”
ESQUIRE: “The Director Kogonada actually has mentioned in an interview that Lee Min Ho is the one of the people who put the most effort into making this work. Then it sounds like you did put a lot of effort to become the real Go Hansu.”
Lee Min Ho: “To be honest, I have never showed the process of preparation from my side to Director Kogonada. I prefer to work in that kind of atmosphere. If you just meet in the field of filming set, having a conversation while working together and making sure to perform each task that was assigned, you can tell how much the other person are worried about the work. I think that there would be a sense of joy and energy while we come together to work. Without having to reveal the parts of how much I prepared behind it or mentioning what I have done, I tried to exclude them all. It would be better to merge it all together and aim for the result. I don’t think that there is a better environment to work than when the natural feeling came, everyone has put a lot of thoughts and preparing very hard in the process. ‘Pachinko’ was good in that aspect, and I respect it. I could naturally tell, I had the feeling coming from all actors/actresses, directors, and producers.”
ESQUIRE: “You have to communicate in English while filing abroad, especially with overseas staffs which you have never worked with before. Were there any difficulties?”
Lee Min Ho: “First of all, the first meeting with the director was scheduled for 30 minutes. However, it was done in just 5 minutes. What the director said was just ‘I Believe in You’. It must have been an intentional sense of trust. It means that the director has the belief that I will take care of myself, and I don't think there is any greater respect than that. I thought about it as much as I respected it and I said, ‘I am like this and this and I want to express it in this way’. There were no significant differences of opinion. Instead, I had an intense conversation with the screenwriter beforehand and he said "Okay? That’s the way you look at it?” I think there was a part where the character of Go Hansu became clearer as the conversation continued.”
part2. Lee Min Ho wants to have as many works as possible for the rest of his 30s.
Actor Lee Min Ho said that a day like today (on the day of the interview) feels just like a holiday. He sat and positioned himself in a comfortable way, gave of his laugh that is very characteristic, and talked about his work the way like a fisherman talks about fishing. He shares on what he had learned on his last drama, his beautiful works, and the joy of acting.
ESQUIRE: “In terms of your work, if there’s any parts in the process/aspect that you like, which one will you pick?”
Lee Min Ho: “When I first saw the script, that would be the part that attracted me the most since I look at the story from an outsider’s perspective. And then, mise-en-scène (process of stage design, placing arrangements of actors and actresses for a film, visualizing story board) would be totally new and then it all balanced out. If it was a Korean drama, I think that it would be a story that could be expressed strongly. For example, a scene where Isaac (Isak) was taken by the Japanese Police. If it was a Korean drama and we should portray the same situation, they will show the torture scene. However, in ‘Pachinko’, the scene was omitted and instead, focuses on the separation of family members as the car moves away. I think that level of description can spark more imagination. I liked it that way.”
ESQUIRE: “Right. We feel like they were trying very hard not to deliver a story that simply demonizing one side. Among the Japanese, there were vicious or racist character but on the contrary, there were also humanist character among the people who appeared, just like the doctors and nurses. The episode about Go Hansu’s past in which was not there in the original novel, made the character even more real and three-dimensional.”
Lee Min Ho: “Everyone has their own story, including Go Hansu in ‘Pachinko’. I don’t this it’s possible to talk about someone solely on the historical facts, before looking into the person’s background story. The powerless people who were stuck between the countries would have had to find a way to survive, all by their own. A person like Go Hansu, which were swayed by what happened, had no choice but to become evil. My friends and I learn history, but I don’t think there were many generations who lived by reflecting on the history on their lives. Therefore, there are many feelings coming from this work. Seeing someone else’s life especially anger, pain and sympathy are actually in a way very natural, and I think it’s important to have a mindset to know that such a thing should not happen again in the future.”
ESQUIRE: “The character of Solomon in ‘Pachinko’ is delivering such a message. He is a person with a mindset of ‘Let’s move forward without being bound by the past’ and ‘Will everything be better’. After all, through the viewpoint of the grandmother, he had a deep sense of history and manage to say even without much thinking ‘Don’t sign it’.”
Lee Min Ho: “Exactly. To tell the truth, I think that we also have to make an effort to understand other person’s history more. In this ear where everything and everyone is closer than before, a tragedy and history of a country are no longer a distant or foreign story. It could be accessed fast, in real time. Just by looking on YouTube, you can easily access stories from other countries such as from the Genocide happening in the past until the recent Russian invasion to Ukraine. If you wanted to investigate it a little bit more, you could be aware on how just terrible that is and therefore, I’m naturally thinking ‘What should we do about this’. As a human being, I am living and worrying about whether there’s something that I can do to help other, should I be able to. That made me think a lot.”
ESQUIRE: “In fact, our society now doesn’t know much about the history of Koreans in Japan. At the end of Season 1, there’s an interview video of the 1st Generation Korean-Japanese Grandmothers and Grandfathers. ‘Thank you for listening to such a boring story’, that part feels unique.”
Lee Min Ho: “So, I am really looking forward to season 2. If Season 1 was released in documentary-format with deep emotions, Season 2 is going to be much more dramatic.”
ESQUIRE: “From the drama ‘Ask the Stars’ that is currently in the process of filming, to ‘Pachinko’ season 2...it seems that we will have to wait for a while before any update on ‘Lee Min Ho Film’ (Lee Min Ho’s YouTube channel). Many fans were waiting for it.”
Lee Min Ho: “I know, right. My current filming schedule would be for this year until next year. Everyone I meet will ask me whether there will be a time where I am not filming, but there’s nothing that I can do about it. *laugh”. So, if there’s a scenario, it would be faster to film it as it is but right now, I’ll try to picture everything with my own interpretation. I don’t have any concrete/fixed plans yet (on Lee Min Ho Film). There are things I have in my mind, but we’ll have to wait and see when we can focus on filming and uploading them.”
ESQUIRE: “Because you have the goal to have as many works and projects as possible in your 30s.”
Lee Min Ho: “I don’t think that 30s is that age where we can have as many works as possible, as an actor. That is also an age group that could deliver messages that they couldn’t convey in their 20s. Of course, there’s also a feeling that only the 40s can give as well. However, I want to do as much work as possible in my 30s in which I can’t return to. Actually, ‘Heirs’ was also a work I did with the similar thought, ‘Sure, if isn’t because of this work, I won’t be able to wear a school uniform anymore’, that similar feeling.”
ESQUIRE: “We heard that ‘The King’ was also chosen with an idea of ‘Let’s put an end to the image of a Prince on a White Horse.”
Lee Min Ho: “Yes, because from one point, I unintentionally had the image of a ‘Prince on a White Horse’ and it lasted more than 10 years, I had to accept it. ‘Let’s then try to be a King’, was what I thought at that time. *laugh*. I had the tendency of having a simple criterion when it comes to selecting works. If the quality of the script is good and there’s something special within, final decision has been made with a simple way.”
ESQUIRE: “And you said that you won’t do any melodramatic or romantic comedy, fairy-tale like drama anymore.”
Lee Min Ho: “Yeah, but if you look at the drama I’m filing right now… *laugh*”
ESQUIRE: “‘If I do it, I think I’ll be delivering a different kind of love story’, is that the way you look at it?”
Lee Min Ho: “Right. ‘Ask the Stars’ is set in space, but I don’t think it is a fantasy, romantic-comedy kind of drama. I think that it’s a piece of work which can unfold the background of the universe and contain more things in depth.”
ESQUIRE: “Fantasy, romantic-comedy and unrealistic settings to entertain viewers seems to be the specialty of Lee Min Ho?”
Lee Min Ho: “Actually, that is the part that matters the most for me. It’s about how it can be persuasive and entertaining. Even when I first read the script, I already start thinking of ‘Is this person could be convincing in public’s eye?’. In the case of Go Hansu but considering the now Lee Min Ho’s feeling, it is a role of a married man who was cheating. If you look at that point alone, I don’t think it matches the character I have portrayed in the past, nor the image that the public think of me. It’s an unimaginable character coming from me, but how can I convincingly express it, understand it along with other points? I consider those things first.”
ESQUIRE: “What was the biggest reason why you choose ‘Ask the Stars’?”
Lee Min Ho: “First of all, because it was about a problem that anyone surely has had. ‘Why are we living’ and ‘Why we’re born’. Although it may not have the answer, but it is a work containing those concerns. My character is also a person who has a strong believe that he is obsessed with Bioethics and work as a Gynecologist, As the story begins with him leaving to space as a tourist, I was able to think about that part about life, the part about human existence and paternal love.”
ESQUIRE: “It’ll be a profound work.”
Lee Min Ho: “To be honest, I don’t know yet whether I could say that the work would be profound or containing a deep message. At least for me, it’s a work starting like what I’ve mentioned before. When it’s release, I wished that other people could say ‘It’s a fun and entertaining drama’. However, someone can immerse in it deeper as well and feel the same way as when I first read the script “
ESQUIRE: “We don’t know whether it could be delivered well or not, but an actor who could approach to that kind of mindset has gone one step further.”
Lee Min Ho: “Yes, it doesn’t have to be conveyed directly on the work, but I would be really delighted if there are many people who feel the same way as me. That’s what being an actor means to me.”
Original Source:
Part 1
https://www.esquirekorea.co.kr/article/70836
Part 2
https://www.esquirekorea.co.kr/article/70840
Korean to English Translation: Monika Setiono (Official Minoz Indonesia)
Thanks for the translation. I really enjoy reading it!!
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