There was a time when KIM Sang-kyung and KIM Tae-woo dominated the young male characters in filmmaker HONG Sangsoo’s films. Now, it looks like actor LEE Sun-kyun has picked up from where they left off. From Night and Day (2008) to Lost in the Mountains (included in the omnibus project Visitors, 2009), Oki’s Movie (2010), Nobody’s Daughter Haewon and Our Sunhi, LEE has, through his five collaborations with HONG Sangsoo, developed an image of an outspoken young man who recklessly bulldozes ahead to get what he wants.

 

Filmmaker PARK Chan-oak’s Paju (2009), in which he plays a man who falls dangerously in love with his sister-in-law, was invited as the opening film to the 2010 International Film Festival Rotterdam and was subsequently showcased at numerous major film festivals including the Tribeca Film Festival and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival gaining LEE international exposure in the process. Last year he performed as a man searching for his fiancée who suddenly disappears in the mystery thriller Helpless, and a timid husband who is trying to get rid of his overbearing wife in the comedy All About My Wife, which each earned an impressive score of 2.4 million and 4.5 million admissions at the local box office.

 

Although he’s on the brink of reaching his forties, he still looks comfortable in his windbreaker and backpack. Korean Cinema Today met with LEE, who definitely looks like Mun-soo, the quintessential film graduate school student of Our Sunhi.

 

I guess it was around early autumn when I finished shooting the TV drama Golden Time. Like always, HONG Sangsoo called me for a friendly chat. My body and soul were so run-down to the point of insomnia during the Golden Time shoot that I went out to meet him with the intention of turning a casting offer down. However, shooting days were limited and since HONG’s films always gives me the joy of working with people I like, I have no regrets for this collaboration.

 

On set, I am always too busy memorizing my lines. (laughs) When I first started working with him, I was quite frustrated and afraid by the fact that I had nothing to go on to prepare for a role. However, after the experience of working with him on several films, now the first thing that comes to mind is, “I need to hurry and memorize my lines.” (laughs) If I were to point out any changes, it is that now I can let go of everything and come to the film shoot, calm and composed.

 

 
I watched Our Sunhi before I went to Locarno and watched it again during the official screening with the audience. When I am working on HONG Sangsoo’s films I only have the chance to read my own lines and not the entire script, so watching the whole film for the first time always puts me in the position of the audience.

Watching the film again at Locarno, I was able to notice different points I never recognized before. The men in Our Sunhi are utterly lonely people who crave redemption through Sunhi. It was quite amusing to see these men defining her although they don’t seem to have a clue about who she is and are subsequently unable to escape from her grasp. If HONG used to make films that explored the depth of character’s emotions, this film was interesting in the way it felt like I was watching a parallelism in the narrative. It seems that HONG’s films are gradually changing as he gets older. I get that feeling more with this film.

 

 

I collaborated on three of HONG Sang-soo films with JUNG Yu-mi, and although the film titles are different, the relationships between the roles we play are similar in the way I am always chasing after Yu-mi. While we were shooting Our Sunhi, I begged HONG, “Can you please stop casting me as that kind of university student who chases after Yu-mi?” to which he replied, “Okay, I’ll find another layer for you.” Ever since I became a father of two children, it’s a bit embarrassing to always be going after women. (laughs)

 

 

The scene where Mun-soo is having quite a few drinks with his senior classmate Jae-hak (played by JUNG Jae-young) was done in a 15 minute long take. There is a line where Mun-soo is rambling on about “You have to dig to the end to know what’s important, right?” Since the scene was so long, I suddenly ended up forgetting my lines.

I didn’t want to lose this scene, and I knew that JUNG Jae-young would jump in to fill the gap, so I kept on going, “dig and dig and dig deeper” finally remembering my lines. When I saw the film, I realized that HONG used this take as the final cut. Unexpected actions and reactions like this occur as if by accident in HONG Sangsoo’s film shoots, and when this happens, I get this thrilling sensation that something is working quite well.

 

 

I play a detective who is inadvertently dragged into a situation due to something he did by accident. I cut my hair and am currently starving myself to lose weight for the part. (laughs) After Our Sunhi, I had a long break with only project following which was a play Love, Love, Love that ran on stage for a month. Working on an average of 2 projects per year, I guess I really needed a break. On the other hand, I realized that I am the kind of person who needs to work. (laughs) It suits me to enjoy and relax while I am working.

 

By CHANG Yeung-yeop