LEE JOON GI
AND
THE
STARNEWS
INTERVIEW
11 JANUARY 2021
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Lee Joon Gi, Cultura’s 2020 ICON (Drama), gave StarNews an exclusive interview on Flower of Evil, his recent drama, and his feelings about the two awards in the acting category which were presented to him at the 2020 Asia Artist Awards (AAA). The two awards are Best Artist Award and Asia Celebrity Award. The in-depth interview was conducted on 11 January 2021. Asia Artist Awards is an awards ceremony organized by South Korea-based business newspaper Money Today and its global media brands StarNews and MTN.
  Lee’s presence at the 28 December 2020 Asia Artist Awards was his second AAA experience after receiving his first award for Criminal Minds on 15 December 2017.
  
 
 
Lee’s formidable reputation as a consummate actor was acknowleged when he was declared Actor of The Year (2017) for his role in Criminal Minds by Soompi, which had been acquired two years previously by Rakuten Viki, an American video streaming website headquartered in San Mateo, California.
According to Wikipedia, the 2017 Soompi Awards 'received 100 million votes, and the awards-related hashtags trended worldwide on Twitter over eight consecutive hours.' INCOMPARABLE ACTING Lee Joon Gi's acting had been described as ‘INCOMPARABLE’ in the 2020 AAA show. He not only performed amazingly in Flower of Evil but his chemistry with all his co-stars was also incredible. Enthusiastic viewers have also showered praise on the two awesome ladies, Moon Chae Won and Jung Seo Yeon. They could feel the crackling electricity between Do Hyun Soo (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djU9XFNqe98 
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THE INTERVIEW  English Translation https://www.instagram.com/p/CKLLOT1pd4n/ https://allaboutjoongi.tumblr.com/ PART 1 (https://star.mt.co.kr/stview.php?no=2021011020591462821) PART 2 (https://star.mt.co.kr/stview.php?no=2021011020592008578) PART 3 (https://star.mt.co.kr/stview.php?no=2021011020592664742) C = Comment / A= Response |
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C1 |
2020 was certainly a meaningful year for this actor, who won two awards at the 2020 Asia Artist Awards (“2020 AAA”) and made us look forward to the next step he’s going to take in 2021. That actor is none other than Lee Joon Gi. At the
2020 AAA held last November, Lee Joon Gi won the Best Artist Award and the
Asia Celebrity Award in the acting category. He made
a small-screen comeback after two years with tvN drama Flower of Evil, which
aired last July, and went on to become a double award winner at the 2020 AAA,
leaving us all wowed: “Of course! [**an expression used to say he lived up to
his name**]” In
Flower of Evil, Lee Joon Gi plays Do Hyun Soo who lives as Baek Hee Seong, so
that’s basically two characters in one role. Lee turned in a spine-chilling
performance that took viewers by surprise, and the viewers were mesmerized by
it. That’s
probably why Lee gave Flower of Evil a special place when asked what winning
the 2020 AAA awards meant to him. |
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A |
For me,
‘Flower of Evil’ was a truly meaningful project. We started filming in the
spring of 2020 and continued to work until early winter, so we worked
together for about a year. Winning
the awards at the 2020 AAA made 2020 an even more meaningful year especially
after I spent it working on ‘Flower of Evil.’ This is
all because of those viewers and fans who showed love and support for ‘Flower
of Evil.’ So thank you from the bottom of my heart. |
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C2 |
This is
his second time winning at the AAA following the 2017 awards. The AAAs hold a
special meaning for him. |
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A |
I am
always grateful for the memories I have of the AAAs, not just this year but
also 3 years ago (laughs). In
particular, I am very well aware that I was honored with these awards because
of my fans who showed me their unchanging love and support, so my heart is
always full of gratitude, then as well as now. However,
unlike 3 years ago, this year I could not meet my fans due to Covid-19. I
sincerely hope and pray that Covid-19 ends as soon as possible so the next
awards will be a festival where everyone gets to laugh and have fun together. |
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C3 |
Following
Lee Joon Gi’s wins, international fans, as well as his Korean fans, left him
messages of congratulations on his SNS account. He
expressed his gratitude to his fans for showing him their unwavering support
and love. |
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A |
I think
I got these great results because of my fans who always cheer me on and send
me love. This year must have been harder on them than any other year, yet
they still did not forget to cheer me on and send me lots of love. So,
thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thanks to the support you gave me, I
was able to cheer up and run this race till the very end. I hope
you take good care of your health, and I am cheering you all on and wish you
a year filled with happiness and joy in 2021. I will
also work hard to show you a greater, better version of myself. Thank you.” |
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C4 |
Lee Joon
Gi is now the double award winner at the 2020 AAA. He
confided that ‘Flower of Evil’ is such a special project for him because it
put him where he is right now. |
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A |
To me,
‘Flower of Evil’ was a project that truly felt like a ‘gift’. It was
my small-screen comeback project after two years, so I was constantly under
pressure and worried so much, from the moment I chose to do this project and
throughout the shoot. In fact,
from the moment I received the script, the biggest thought in my head was
‘this is so difficult,’ and the project particularly made me worry a lot and
wonder if I could do a good job. But now
that I finished it all, looking back, I think those worries and those moments
came together and brought into my life a time that feels like a gift. It was
definitely the case when I was shooting, but even now, after finishing it,
when I look back on that time, it is just filled with fun and happy memories. |
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C5 |
Lee Joon
Gi also confided that the cast and the production crew he worked with on
Flower of Evil also congratulated him on his wins at the 2020 AAA. He added
that he regarded those awards as the honors he received along with those he’d
worked together on the drama. |
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A |
(Following
my wins at the 2020 AAA) everyone called me to offer their sincere
congratulations. In the
end, I think these awards are the honors I received along with all the actors
and production crew who worked so hard together. So when we spoke to one
another I remember saying thank you back to those I worked with. |
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C6 |
In
‘Flower of Evil,’ Lee Joon Gi practically plays two characters in one role,
in every aspect – from facial expressions to emotions, and to action
performances. His
portrayal of Do Hyun Soo, wrongly accused of murder, who lives as killer Baek
Hee Seong, left an indelible impression on viewers. But Lee
Joon Gi himself had difficulty playing this role who has polar opposites in
him. |
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A |
Since Do
Hyun Soo and Baek Hee Seong have completely different vibes to them, I had to
think long and hard about how to play them. Plus, Do
Hyun Soo is incapable of feeling emotions, so I had difficulty expressing
this character on-screen. That’s why I paid particularly more attention to the
reactions this character shows in his interactions with other various
characters. Precisely
because he is incapable of feeling, I thought every single reaction that
comes from every tiny expression can be powerful and make the character more
believable. So
before the shoot began, I spent time with the director and the other actors
exchanging ideas and tried hard not to miss any details. |
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C7 |
In
Flower of Evil, Lee Joon Gi showed a mysterious but oddly attractive side of
him as well: that is, his portrayal of a ‘father,’ which drew a positive
response from viewers. Lee Joon
Gi shared the behind-the-scenes story about this performance. |
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A |
I think
the scenes I shared with my daughter Eun Ha (Jung Seo Yeon) really reflect a
lot of my real-life self. In fact,
on the days we had a shoot together, I remember deliberately showing up to
work early to hang out with Seo Yeon so I could get closer to her. During
the shoot, the director also left it all up to me when it came to the scenes
of Hee Seong and Eun Ha. I guess that is probably why those scenes show more
natural sides of us. |
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C8 |
Lee Joon
Gi also told us about what kind of ‘father’ he thinks he should be. |
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A |
I dream
of having a warm and happy family just like Baek Hee Seong’s, and I also want
to become a good husband and good father. Working
on Flower of Evil particularly made me think more about this, and the staff
members I worked with saw me like this and told me, ‘I think you are going to
have a really good life when married.’ I think
when I become a father, I would look pretty much like what I looked like in
Flower of Evil. |
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C9 |
Lee Joon
Gi also heaped praises on Moon Chae Won and Kim Ji Hun he worked with and who
helped make Flower of Evil a well-made drama. |
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A |
It
always has been the case with every other project I worked on, but Flower of
Evil particularly had a great ensemble cast. This was
my second time working with Moon Chae Won, and she is the type of actor who
is very detail-oriented and great at staying focused, so we helped each other
a lot. I think
I could make those emotions in Do Hyun Soo feel more desperate because of Cha
Ji Won as performed by Chae Won. It was
my first time working with Kim Ji Hun, but we have known each other for such
a long time, so I was actually very excited about acting with him. The
tension and impact Ji Hun delivered in Flower of Evil was so great that he
left me feeling overwhelmed and thrilled. On top
of that, we were very similar in our work style, so those times we spent
together thinking over and discussing how to create great scenes left me such
great memories. |
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C10 |
In
addition to Moon Chae Won and Kim Ji Hun, Lee Joon Gi also talked about
working with Seo Hyun Woo and Jang Hee Jin, which he described as
“awe-inspiring and stimulating”. |
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A |
It was
so amazing working with Seo Hyun Woo as well. I had already been told he was
a great actor, but when I actually got to act alongside him, he even
surpassed my expectations. I think
Seo Hyun Woo made a significant contribution to that early impactful scene
where Do Hyun Soo’s true identity is revealed. I am so
truly grateful to him and I want to work with him often on projects I’ll be
doing in the future. It was also my second time
working with Jang Hee Jin. As soon as I heard Hee Jin had been cast in the
role Do Hae Soo, I thought, ‘There we go!’ I mean that’s how much I trusted
and relied on her. Normally, she is a cheerful and
positive person, but when the shoot begins, she instantly gets into character
and shows an entirely different side of her. Working with her on Flower of
Evil, I found her a great inspiration and thanks to her, we had a great
chemistry. |
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C11 |
In
Flower of Evil, Lee Joon Gi made us say, “Of course, that’s Lee Joon Gi,”
leaving us in awe. In every
project he was in, he gave such an impressive performance. In Flower of Evil,
he wanted to show a side of him that people had not seen before. |
|
A |
Each
time I work on a new project, I constantly think about what I should do to
show people a new side of me. The
thing that worried me the most while preparing for Flower of Evil was what if
I ended up playing a parody of myself. But the more I read the script, the
more I thought up images in my head that were completely new, unique, and
different from the roles I had played before. Imagining
such things was such an appealing part of the process. Then,
when developing those two characters – Do Hyun Soo and Baek Hee Seong, I
worked hard to set my character apart in terms of various details so that it
would be a completely new character people had never seen before. |
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C12 |
In
Flower of Evil, Lee Joon Gi gave a powerful performance shifting between good
and evil. For each
project he is in, he creates a character that only Lee Joon Gi can do. With
expectations mounting for his next project, people wonder what kind of role
the actor himself wants to play. |
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A |
I am
still thinking hard about how to show a ‘new’ side of me in my next project. I want
to show fans a melodramatic side of me that they want to see in me; I also
want to go the action route all the way. Or, if I
am given an opportunity then I want to come back with a historical drama
after a long while. For now,
I am keeping an open mind for a lot of possibilities. |
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C13 |
Lee Joon
Gi’s work has spanned various genres, from drama, film, to romance, and to
thriller. But
there is this one specific genre he wants to try. |
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A |
I did a
melodrama in Flower of Evil, but it is a ‘suspense melodrama,’ so I don’t
think it had as many melodramatic scenes as I’d thought it would, which I
regretted a little (laughs). So if I
get an opportunity I want to try a real classic melodrama. |
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C14 |
So Lee
Joon Gi wants to try a real classic melodrama. Asked
what he wants to show in the future, he talked about “touching hearts”. |
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A |
I want
to be an actor who can help people heal through my work; an actor who works
consistently and diligently for a long time and can touch hearts like it’s a
gift [for people]. When it
comes to the character and the genre, I want people to see me taking on
various kinds of challenges, instead of having a certain set of criteria. One of
the things I consider most important when choosing a project is ‘human love.’
I want
to comfort and touch people by giving a performance rich in emotions like
that. |
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C15 |
2020 was
a year that saw him in Flower of Evil and at the 2020 AAA winning awards. It is
now last year, but he described 2020 as a “year I will not forget forever.” |
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A |
It was a
year that was very hard but made me feel grateful and happy. I think,
for many people, 2020 will be remembered as a hard year [due to Covid-19]. However,
even amid a global crisis like this, I am so grateful that I met this drama
‘Flower of Evil’ and got to spend almost all of the four seasons on the set. So many
things changed on set due to Covid-19, but we had good people coming together
and doing their best to stay safe. Because of them, we could finish it safely
without problems, for which I am grateful. I was
very happy I got to comfort viewers through this drama this past year that
was so hard on us, and I was also deeply touched by the viewers. 2020 was
truly a year I will not forget forever. |
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C16 |
Now 2020
is gone, and the new year has begun. Welcoming
2021, Lee Joon Gi sent a New Year’s message to the readers of StarNews. |
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A |
It feels
like just a short while ago that I said hello to you through Flower of Evil
last year, but the new year has already begun. Because
of the big love and support you sent me last year, 2020 was such an
unforgettable year. Thank
you from the bottom of my heart. Most of us are still in difficult times due
to Covid-19, but I’m sending you cheers and sincerely pray that we get to
return to normal in 2021 as soon as possible. As an
actor, I will also work hard to entertain and touch you with a better project
and character. Please
always take care of your health, and happy new year! Thank you. |