LEE JOON GI
FLOWER OF EVIL
POST
BROADCAST
INTERVIEW
(PART 1)
29.09.2020
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Lee Joon Gi was interviewed after the broadcast of Flower of Evil. The interview, which was conducted on 29 September 2020, is divided into two parts (Part 1 & Part 2).
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THE INTERVIEW English
Translation: @allaboutjoongi Q =
question (or comment)
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Q1 |
Thoughts on finishing Flower of Evil
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A |
I always get mixed feelings when I finish a project, but now
even more so after finishing Flower of Evil. I feel relieved that I finished
this race well; fulfilled that I took the weight I initially felt and
channeled it into bringing [the drama] to a successful conclusion; and empty
after saying goodbye to everyone I worked with on set through thick and thin.
On top of that, doing this interview right after I finished it, I start
missing everything again, which makes the feelings I have even more complicated.
I feel so lonely, but I’m also grateful for so many things right now.
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Q2 |
Why did you choose this drama?
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A |
When I first read the script for Flower of Evil, I thought, ‘I
am not capable enough to handle this project.’ This character is equal parts
a loving father, a devoted husband, and a man who’s hiding a sad and brutal
past. So before I made my decision, I kept asking myself, ‘Is actor Lee Joon
Gi capable enough to handle this role now?’ I wondered if I could convince
viewers, and what if the ‘colors’ so unique to actor Lee Joon Gi that people
had seen in my previous works came out too strong, upsetting the overall
balance of the drama? I worried so much. Fortunately, I had about two weeks until I had to make the
decision. I read the script over and over again, picturing in my head how
this was going to turn out. Then it occurred to me, ‘Maybe it’s destiny that
sent this drama to me.’ I also wanted to make this drama a turning point in
my acting career. Before we got started, Chaewon and I said things like, ‘If we
do a good job on this project, we can probably pioneer this new genre
‘suspense melodrama’ by bringing into it emotions that are unique to us.’ The
talk we had further convinced me that I should do this drama. In the end, for me, choosing Flower of Evil was a bold decision
to make. I was so curious about this future yet to be painted and imagined
what it’d be like. I was so inspired by the curiosity and imagination I had
that I could barely contain myself. Before the shoot began, I met writer Yoo Jung-hee and
we talked a lot. She was so passionate about the drama and explained all the
hints, clues, and emotions contained in scene after scene. This helped me a
lot in building my character. I saw how immensely dedicated she was to this
project, so I wanted to reciprocate by giving a really good performance. I am
deeply grateful to the writer for having complete faith in me and giving me
the chance to live as my character Do Hyun Soo. |
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Q3 |
(On the concern that Flower of Evil might remind people of his
role in Two Weeks)
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A |
Actually, after I made my decision, the thing that concerned
the director, the writer, and the production staff most was, ‘What if Flower
of Evil reminds people of Two Weeks and feels familiar?’ In the latter, I
also depicted a desperate father’s love. There my character gets pushed to
the very edge and I had such a tough time while immersed in my role. But
everyone told me, ‘No, this [Flower of Evil] is different.’ Despite all that, I don’t even remember how many times I went
over the script, over and over again. Of course, there weren’t any scenes
that felt too familiar. On the contrary, the unique and originally-written
situations in Flower of Evil captured my imagination, and I found them so
appealing. Then I started to define the overall ‘tone and manner’ of the
drama based on two words, ‘Truth’ and ‘Love.’ Doing this really put to rest
those worries I initially had. Focusing on the original story line of Flower
of Evil and the narrative revolving around this character Do Hyun Soo, I
could create a unique character of my own. What did you focus particularly on in your portrayal of Baek
Hee Seong and Do Hyun Soo? In portraying these two sides of the character, I put a great
deal of effort into creating the reactions he shows in his interactions with
various other characters. Since Do Hyunsoo cannot feel emotions, I thought
every small expression and reaction mattered and it would make each scene
powerful and convincing. Of course, it wasn’t something I could do alone just
by doing research and lots of thinking. That’s why I kept sharing ideas with
the director, the writer, and even the director of photography
(cinematographer) who kept a close watch on me, as well as every single one
of the cast. If poorly done, Do Hyunsoo could have easily been a cliché and a
simple, emotionless psychopath. So I paid attention to and focused on small
details. It was so hard, but it was the director who worked the hardest.
Hahaha. He really went out of his way to communicate with his actors and kept
all the emotions in balance, keeping them perfectly under control. For my
part, I focused particularly on rehearsals going over the previous scenes we
did and working with my co-stars to find the emotional flows (continuity) and
emotional highs and lows that would look convincing. Personally, I am very
grateful to Chaewon for helping me come up with more diverse reactions. Without the hard work put in by all these actors, who together
delivered such an amazing ensemble performance, the synergy that enabled
those explosive emotions in the latter half would not have been possible. Instead
of monitoring how I acted on set, I tried to watch the drama from viewers’
point of view. I put a lot of thought into how I should convey the variations
of the emotions Hyunsoo feels so they’d feel even more painful and poignant.
I tried to make those emotions look not far-fetched, but convincing. So I put
lots of thought into each and every single thing I created. Of course, it was
really hard. Hahaha. I actually had a bit of trouble understanding the bouts of
hyperventilation Hyunsoo experiences until I read the scripts for the later
episodes. I even jokingly said, ‘Since when did Hyunsoo have this chronic
disease?’ It wasn’t clear to me so I had trouble getting the details right. I
could only guess ‘Hyunsoo is going through some changes,’ ‘Maybe he’s
experiencing physical changes as the emotions he’s feeling in his brain start
to unlock.’ I think, in the end, those [physical symptoms] allowed me to
effectively express the emotional changes in Hyunsoo. In fact, during the
filming, I came up with different versions of those scenes of him
hyperventilating. I even thought of seizures, but decided it’d be too much so
didn’t end up using them.
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Q4 |
How did you prepare to create this multifaceted character Do
Hyun Soo?
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A |
Baek Hee Seong had to look natural as a metal craft artist.
Before the shoot started, I pictured in my head how he should look by
watching some metalworking videos on YouTube that might be helpful for my
performance. I also met a real-life metal craft artist and learned some
details in person, so I could use them to make me look like a real metal
craft artist. In portraying a warm, loving father, I actually improvised a
lot. The director left it up to me to try out many different things. So I
created a lot of things with Eunha from scratch, for instance, by playing
with her. On days when I had scenes with Eunha, I showed up early to work and
tried to stay close to her as much as possible. Sometimes, I was exhausted
more from having so much fun with Eunha than from working on set. Hahaha. In portraying a husband, I worked with Chaewon and we exchanged
all kinds of ideas in building our characters. Chaewon is so detail-oriented
and great at focusing on her emotions. So she helped me fill in a lot of the
gaps I left and could have missed. Because of this, as we neared the end of
the filming, just thinking about Cha Jiwon alone brought a lump to my throat. In depicting the life of Do Hyunsoo, I owe my co-stars a lot
for the help they gave me. With Seo Hyunwoo, who played Moojin, in
particular, we have similar personalities so from the very outset, he helped
me a lot in forming my own image of Do Hyunsoo, who lives the life of Baek
Heeseong. He’s so great at reacting. I’d been really looking forward to
working with him before the shoot began. It turned out, the chemistry between
us was even better than I’d expected, so we ended up creating these
‘bromance’ scenes although we didn’t mean to. Hahaha. Every bit part of the narrative centering on Hyunsoo derives
from his relationships with the other characters. That’s why I focused on how
to depict those things [relationships] to set my character apart.
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Q5 |
How did you approach your role Do Hyun Soo (Baek Hee Seong),
and what was your first impression of him?
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A |
I actually worried a lot about the scenes where I practice
facial expressions in front of the mirror because there are similar scenes in
the film ‘Joker.’ So I decided to approach it differently, and it occurred to
me, ‘What if I make it look like an AI preparing for the day with a certain
purpose in mind?’ It would make the character look a bit creepy as well. But
at the same time, I wanted viewers to notice the innocence in this AI that
wants to understand human emotions. So a lot of preparation went into those
scenes. My first impression of Do Hyunsoo was that I felt sorry for
him. He had an unfortunate upbringing, grew up without getting any love, and
suffered mentally from his relationship with his father. Ultimately, what he
needed was love. But everyone around him was prejudiced in the way they
treated him and those circumstances made Hyunsoo want to escape reality. In
the end, Hyunsoo abandoned everything and ran away to protect his sister, the
only person who treated him with love. But again, he’s betrayed and hurt by
people. To Hyunsoo, living as Baek Heeseong was probably the sweetest offer
he’d ever received; the hope that he could live a new life like a human
being. After that, he meets Cha Jiwon and, for the first time in his
life, he has his own people he wants to protect. Every step of his journey
captured my imagination. As an actor, I was so inspired by the thrills coming
from all the emotional details Do Hyunsoo feels and the different
relationships he has. On top of that, I had so much fun thinking about the
tightrope of this new life Do Hyunsoo is walking and my own interpretations
of the different situations that could arise from it. Of course, it was
pretty stressful, though. Hahaha.
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Q6 |
Was there anything you watched for inspiration in preparing for
this two-faced character? What did you do to set Do Hyunsoo apart from other
emotionless characters?
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A |
I did watch films like Joker and No Country for Old Men for
inspiration in order to portray this emotionless character. But in the end,
the situations Do Hyunsoo is in are very different from those the others are
in. Hyunsoo may be lacking empathy, but he’s innocent at heart. Early into
the drama, I kind of based Heeseong’s expressionless face when he talks to
others on some of the expressions I watched in No Country for Old Men.
However, those are vastly different situations and emotions, so I just focused
on the emotions I actually felt on set. From the very beginning, Do Hyunsoo had to look mysterious,
hiding those inner thorns in him. So I talked a lot with the director and
discussed with Seo Hyunwoo the kinds of reactions that would make Hyunsoo
look colder. But seeing viewers feel sympathy for Hyunsoo way earlier than
I’d expected, I wondered if I should have made the character look even
harsher. Hahaha. Sure, Hyunsoo lacks emotional empathy, but he’s innocent at
heart, which sets him apart from the other emotionless characters. Another thing that sets Do Hyunsoo apart from other emotionless
characters is the fact that he has Jiwon and Eunha. This is how I approached
it: He’s been living a lackluster life. Then he meets Jiwon, she gives him
endless love, Eunha is born, and he starts learning new emotions without even
realizing it. Hyunsoo’s brain has already started to change so it can feel
those things. Yet he needed this strong stimulus – a fear that he might lose
someone so precious to him – to recognize the change in himself. That Hyunsoo
is such a multifaceted character truly sets him apart. So I factored into my
performance the specific moments at which he feels emotions and the fine
details of the situations he’s in. All of those things came together making
Hyunsoo an even more multifaceted character.
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Q7 |
Any difficulty filming demanding action scenes, such as the
apartment balcony scene and the fishing spot torture scene?
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A |
As many of you know, I enjoy working out regularly, so I didn’t
find anything particularly physically demanding. I didn’t feel tired or
exhausted. Instead, I was a lot more concerned about how much movement I had
to make, or how much action I had to take, to help viewers relate to certain
emotions and feelings coming from certain scenes. Actually, before I got started on this project, I made up my
mind to cut down action scenes (fights), which I love doing, to about one
tenth of what I normally do. To do the kinds of action scenes I normally do,
a lot of work goes into matching movements. So they are very eye-catching and
tough. But for this project, I figured such action scenes would not be
helpful. This time, I focused more on emotions than action. As for the scenes where I get brutally pushed around, I didn’t
use a stunt double, but actually knocked and threw myself around to make them
more relatable to viewers.
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Q8 |
How did you prepare for emotional scenes, especially in terms
of using your eyes and tone of voice? How happy are you with the result? Any regrets?
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A |
This is the first project ever where I did not monitor each and
every one of the shots I filmed. I knew so well what my strengths were, but I
thought it [monitoring] might distract me from creating details for my
character. So this time, I decided to let go a little, shared ideas and
rehearsed with the others, and focused on what I had in each given situation.
Above all, the director made sure everything was in balance, so I just left
it all to the director to give me directions, while concentrating solely on
building my own character. In terms of using my eyes and tone of voice, I tried to not go
overboard but keep it toned down. I guess that helped viewers focus more on
little details. I think I received positive feedback on my performance,
because of the hard work put in by the director, who helped polish things up,
the cinematographer, and all the other staff members. I think everyone worked
hard and contributed towards this. Thank you very much for the appreciation. Working on this drama, I wanted to make beautiful and poignant
melodramatic scenes. So Chaewon, the director, and I had a lot of talk. The
only thing I probably regret a little is that we ended up focusing more
heavily on deep, desperate melodramatic scenes than we’d expected. I wanted
to show you more different sides of me. Of course, though, I got to act out
such a rich variety of emotions and enjoyed the creative process working with
so many fellow actors on this drama, so I have no regrets.
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Q9 |
Thoughts on working with your co-stars: Moon Chaewon, Seo
Hyunwoo, Jang Heejin, Kim Jihun, and Jung Seoyeon.
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A |
As for Moon Chaewon, we actually had seen each other a few
times even before we were offered Flower of Evil. We’d talk about what
projects we’d been considering and what was going on in our lives. When I had
so much trouble making my decision on Flower of Evil, Chaewon made me feel
confident by saying, ‘You are more than capable enough to make this character
attractive.’ On set, as an actor, Chaewon is very detail-oriented and
focused. She does a lot of thinking until she feels she can interpret any
given emotion. That’s why when we put our scenes together, I was so inspired
by her and got a lot of help from her in creating emotions. Without Cha Jiwon, Do Hyunsoo’s emotions would not have felt so
desperate. She’s the kind of actor who excels at drawing people further into
the drama. It must have been so tough for her expressing those emotions Cha
Jiwon feels in the drama. She worked so hard. I think I should buy her
something delicious so she can get her energy back up. Hahaha.
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Q10 |
How did you benefit from working with her again? What was
different this time?
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A |
The big difference is that this time, we did a melodrama
together. Moon Chaewon’s melodrama is different from any other.
It’s lovely, poignant, and sometimes so heartbreaking it makes you feel so
sad. That’s why as an actor I had always wanted to do a melodrama with
Chaewon because I wanted to see what we could create together. Thankfully, we
were finally able to make a melodrama together through this project. But I wonder if in real life, it would be possible for any
couple to have a marriage like Hyunsoo and Jiwon’s. If this is a real-life
story about a couple overcoming whatever comes between them to protect their
love despite such a brutal past, then I think it’d be so sad and painful. I wish we could have shot more scenes of more ordinary and
happier everyday moments, like the ones where we were dating. Because the
drama was a little too heavy on the desperate melodrama. Haha. But I’m so
satisfied with the melodramatic scenes we created together. I think we had
great chemistry, complementing each other’s performance. As for Seo Hyunwoo, I had already heard that he is such a
committed and passionate actor. Even before we got started, the people around
me kept telling me I should stay on my toes. So I remember looking forward to
meeting him for the first time, half excited, half worried. But in person,
he’s so kind, hard-working, and above all, has his own principles as an
actor. He’s also similar to me in that we both enjoy being on set. So
we constantly shared ideas and created our scenes in many different ways. I
am particularly grateful for the help he gave me early in the drama in my
creation of this character Do Hyunsoo. We became such good friends that we
would keep saying let’s work together again on other projects. I love him
even more because he can handle as much alcohol as I can. This was my second time working with Jang Heejin. She
hasn’t changed at all; she’s always cheerful and energetic. Also, she’s very
considerate of the people around her. As an actor, she’s great at both
conveying deep emotions and staying focused. So when I heard she’d been cast
in the drama, I personally felt so relieved, thinking, ‘There we go.’ On set, she is just as playful as I am, having fun with me. But
when she acts, she instantly gets into character, acting out new emotional
details. Every time I saw her like that, I was so impressed by the skills
this actor Jang Heejin possessed that I would call her ‘Pro Jang’ (*pro =
professional). She’s a great friend and co-star who made being on set even
more fun. I’ve known Kim Jihun for seven to eight years. But
this was my first time acting alongside him, so I was so looking forward to
it. We nearly worked together once on another project. This time, we finally
got to work together and we both found it amazing, saying, ‘We were meant to
work together.’ It was probably very difficult for him working on this drama.
He played the villain who made his first appearance at the midpoint, ramping
up the tension that’d been built up to that point in the drama. He had to
wait for a long time to start filming his parts. But once his character was
revealed, I thought ‘Wow, he really has been waiting for this moment the
whole time.’ He’s such a great inspiration. He has a great personality and
enjoys being on set, so we really had lots of fun together. We even have
similar approaches to analyzing scenes and working them out. We once spent
almost an hour just discussing ideas on the phone and my voice got hoarse
after that. Haha. Personally, I think he gave a really wonderful performance, so
I hope he finds an even greater project where he shines brighter. To me, he’s
such a great co-star and a great bro. I am truly grateful to him for doing
his best working with me. As for Eunha, I’m tearing up just thinking about her. In
fact, I cried all night before my last day of filming with Eunha. I guess I
immersed myself so deeply in this role throughout. From the moment I
met Seoyeon (Eunha), I never really stayed away from her on set
because I wanted to help her relax and get close to her. So during the
filming week when I couldn’t see her as often, I even felt depressed. I guess
I got really attached to her. Seoyeon is such a kind-hearted child who’s like a snowflake
(that looks like a flower). She once said she’d tear up just thinking about
me (Dad). I felt so grateful, proud, and deeply touched. She is a very
dedicated actor, so she would get really disappointed when she couldn’t give
the performance she’d prepared until the day before. As viewers have seen,
she really delivered a stellar performance, so I can’t wait to see what the
future holds in store for her. In the future, she will shine even brighter in
even greater projects. Daddy will keep cheering you on from afar. I just want
to say thank you so so much for being my beautiful daughter.
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Q11 |
On working with
the director
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A |
Director Kim
Chulgyu is the person I am most thankful to on this project. He had
complete faith in me and always set milestones in my long journey of
portraying Do Hyunsoo who lives as Baek Heeseong. He always came to the set
with a plan for how to put scenes together in his head, which he put lots of
thought into. It helped me a lot with how I performed on set. Without any
doubt I could rely on him and focus on my own work. I think all
these hard-working and great staff members came together to work with him
because he’s such a gentle and warm person. I think we owe him a lot for
bringing the drama to a successful conclusion. So I am truly grateful to him.
I’d love to work with him again on other projects if he offers to do so.
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