Article on Cine21 - April 06, 2006

Lee Byung-Heon, From Hollywood Kid to Hollywood Star... Maybe

A silent, cold-hearted and calculating killer; a director perfectly controlling his life; a perfect man, seemingly coming from another world; a famous master of tricks, making life his own (Russian) roulette. Lee Byung-Heon's roles haven't changed too much in recent years, but what changed is the weight of his performances, the little details which make the difference between the also-ran and the great actors. Sure, Lee is still far from deserving to be compared with greats like Song Kang-Ho or Choi Min-Shik, but his improvement in the last few years is impressive. That young boy was actually one of those 'Hollywood Kids' who would sneak in small theaters, watching the stars shine on the big screen, dreaming one day of becoming one. The road to reach stardom was full of obstacles, like the first time he ever acted, in the 1991 KBS Drama Asphalt is My Hometown. The PD of that Drama welcomed him into the world of acting saying that would be his first and last performance, given the quality of his acting.

The first few years of Lee's career weren't easy, but he found instant popularity with the 1992 Drama Love, Tomorrow, from the 'magic hands' of PD Yoon Seok-Ho, in a show which also starred a young actress called Go So-Young. Although Lee continued climbing the totem pole of the industry, it wasn't until 1995's Runaway, by Musa: The Warrior's Kim Sung-Soo, that he started showing potential in terms of acting. 1996's Asphalt Man, one of the classic (or should I say, 'lesser evil') Trendy Dramas of the 90s, jumped him into stardom, alongside Lee Young-Ae, Choi Jin-Shil and Jung Woo-Sung. Yet, despite the many hits on TV, Lee couldn't find that big hit on the big screen, and before casting him in his career making film, 2000's JSA (Joint Security Area), Park Chan-Wook joked that Lee was already on the black lists of actors you shouldn't cast. Be it the great script, one of the best directors in the country, or the top notch ensemble cast he was working with, Lee found that spark, and made JSA his most important role to date.

His roles after that tend to be up and down, from Kim Dae-Seung's Bungee Jumping of Their Own -- popular, but in severe need of a shot of adrenaline -- to Lee Sung-Gang's great little animation My Beautiful Girl, Mari [In what I still consider his most touching performance to date, even if it's only voice acting]. His big returns to TV always brought big ratings, but even though All In was better than most Dramas shown that year, it was still a huge disappointment coming from the pen of Choi Wan-Gyu. And let's not even mention Beautiful Days. But even if it took the mad genius of Park Chan-Wook and the verve of Kim Ji-Woon to show Lee had real talent, all those years of slowly changing his image have helped Lee, who played the quiet, perfect machine moved by that 'breeze' in A Bittersweet Life with the pathos of an actor who's been in this biz for decades. And it's inevitable his future as a leading figure in the Korean Wave, with his rising popularity in Japan having the biggest influence, will bring new changes.

Lee's career has seen a big development in the last few years: he signed with CAA, an important Hollywood management company, which will certainly pave the way for his Hollywood debut. He will be the protagonist of a videogame, which should widen his fanbase's spectrum. And on the Korean side, he just announced he'll star in Jo Geun-Shik's melodrama Tale of Summer, and later in Lee Jae-Han's English feature Red Skin. Lee recently sat down for an interview with Cine21, for their print edition. He's a few highlights.

Q: I've heard you decided on your next project, Jo Geun-Shik's Tale of Summer.
Lee Byung-Heon: My manager told me while I was resting after A Bittersweet Life I received a total of 110 scripts, about half of which I ended up paying attention to. According to what an actor is shooting at a certain moment, he keeps getting similar offers. While shooting A Bittersweet Life they kept sending me scripts for action films, noir, mystery, thriller, things along the lines of The Big Swindle). But after going through all that in A Bittersweet Life, I didn't even want to think about doing it all once again, so I focused my attention on Human Dramas, melodramas and the like. This Tale of Summer starts from a TV program like TV Takes Love on Board, where Professor Hwang Seok-Young is looking for an old acquaintance of his. That's when the film brings us back to the professor's youth, when he falls in love with a woman while on Summer vacation in the countryside. My character in the film is very arrogant and cynical, and I act the whole spectrum from his 20s to his 60s. As a whole, it combines the background of The Harmonium in My Memory) in terms of period and atmosphere, the feeling of Bungee Jumping of Their Own, and in terms of character is similar to Beautiful Days.

Around the end of last year, there was this rumour you'd star in a Lifeguard Film with Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, and shoot in Tokyo. There hasn't been any news since then, so it looks like you refused the role.
Lee: Jenny Rollings from CAA is my spokeswoman in Hollywood. After going to Cannes for the screening of A Bittersweet Life, I met with her and we talked about the number of scripts that kept coming in Hollywood, which are still coming, and I'm thinking about my future there. The film you're talking about is The Guardian, from Andrew Davis of A Perfect Murder and The Fugitive. Things didn't work out, so I decided not to do it after all. Costner was going to play a legendary rescue swimmer, who loses a friend in an accident and suffers an emotional trauma after that. Kutcher played a young newcomer disappointed by his former 'hero' behavior, and I'd play a subordinate of Costner, sharing a tense relationship with him [Note: The film actually started shooting, with Costner and Kutcher on board. And it sounds like Lee made the right decision, looking at the plot description]. But I don't know how they found out about me in Hollywood. It's probably because of the Japanese market's influence, as they were probably trying to cast someone who would have a strong appeal in that market.

Q: The characters in All In meet by accident in a small theater in their youth, and their peculiar destiny begins there. On several interviews, you revealed how small theaters always unconsciously bring up memories of your youth. You even said you'd like to manage one of those old, decrepit small theaters one day, and re-experience all the films you liked.
Lee: My first theater experience was when my cousin brought me to the local theater in the Seongnam area, when I was four. I remember we watched Papillon. My second was Nazareno Cruz Y El Lobo (The Love Of The Wolf) [a 1975 Argentinean film by Leonardo Favio]. It was one of those films minors couldn't watch, but I guess that image of a wolf in the poster was enough to tempt a young kid like me. Once I got the gist of the theater going experience a little, I started bringing my friends too, and we'd usually watch Bruce Lee films and all their various rip-offs, and especially films with Wang Ho. Those were both the object of my dreams and illusions. The running a theater thing is usually something I mention vaguely when people ask me if I'll continue acting forever, but I imagined myself in those shoes once or twice. And I don't mean multiplexes, but the small theaters like those appearing in All In or Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, places where I'd show only low budget films, and retrospective for my favorite directors. Something with a symbolic meaning, like the Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Q: Listening to your commentary on the DVD of A Bittersweet Life, you comment the scenes with the kind of analysis directors give to films. We know you like watching films on DVD, but what are your favourite films and actors?
Lee: When I started acting, and was thinking about what to make people feel through my acting, the first film coming to mind was Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. When I was young films were just a dream of mine, just that unique smell of the theater you experienced after buying the ticket made my heart boil. But because of the films I watched, from Wang Ho to Bruce Lee, from Jackie Chan to many fantasy film, film for me was the opposite of reality. Of course now film has a different meaning for me, and my taste in films has changed too.

Q: Film Poster and Still Photographer Lee Jeon-Ho, who worked with you, said if there's an actor who can't make progress in a film unless he's convinced of what he's playing, that's Lee Byung-Heon. And also, you often say during interviews things like 'I couldn't possibly have done that if it weren't for imagination', it sounds like you dislike acting using your imagination. Do you feel any burden when trying to act characters who live in a completely different world, and went through things you never experienced?
Lee: That's why I try not to lock myself up. If it's not work, then I don't need to be accompanied by my manager all the time, don't I? If I were a singer, then living like Michael Jackson would be understandable. But for an actor to lock himself up inside his own world, that's what one has to avoid at all costs, and always be careful about. That's because at the end of the day, our job consists of showing another person's life through our performance. So you have to try and experience life from top to bottom, even if you can't do everything. If I were a newcomer, I'd really try to do everything except illegal things, as being an actor also involves doing things like that. For example, let's say you go to a tent bar, wearing this big hat to cover your identity, and sit in a corner where people can't see you, just to experience drinking at a tent bar. Then someone notices you and goes: "Ahhh... you're that... you know, that one? Come on, let's have a drink." But then if you refuse they go: "Why is he acting like such a stuck up?" and you have to take insults. Then if you go: "Since I'm an actor, I can't look homely" or "I don't want to cause a scene, so I'll just leave" you keep everything in check. I might do like that, but then I feel the urge to go ahead with that, just to experience what would happen later, you know? Why? Because then that would become a learning experience, something that would help me as an actor. Of course I'd also like to go somewhere quiet and relax after filming... (laughs)

Q: You pointed out on your homepage, regarding this whole issue of the screen quota reduction, about the dangers inherent with using culture as trade goods. Personally I think this protest about the quota reduction you actors are doing does have some interesting points I agree with, but I feel using terms like 'We'll wave the Korean flag all over the world' feels a little... uncomfortable? But then looking at the other side, using that 'little America' logic [vis-a-vis the popularity of the Korean Wave] can often make this whole issue collapse. As an actor promoting our culture to the world and one of the flagbearers of the Korean Wave, saying anything about this issue might feel complicated.
Lee: I don't like that kind of attitude either. But to be honest, if you see the quota in economic terms and ask me to comment on those terms, then there's many things I don't know about the matter. But then when I start feeling political undertones within the demonstrations, then I tend to avoid them. I mean, amongst all film people, it's not like we all share the same view, because if we change the system according to the US' demands, then nobody can predict what will happen. It's just that we worry there'll be more damages than benefits in this case, so then you're influenced to think protesting is the right thing to do. That's because then we face the risk of a market dominated by Korean films trying to mimic the Hollywood system to compete with them or comedies, so films without a strong commercial concept would eventually disappear from the market, and that's certainly the worst possible scenario. But frankly I feel bad about this issue too, because I'd be lying if I said I knew how society changes as a whole, having lived in this profession since I started acting in my second year of college and nothing else. Most actors feel like that, you keep going simply thinking what you feel is right, but now I've come to an age when I have to stop making assumptions, and sometimes I worry I don't even know the basics. I think actors live their adolescence for much longer than other people, and I'm always nervous worrying about what will happen. You'd obviously like to think with age things get better, that you'd relax, but I don't think I'm able to do that yet. But then again, it might just be my several faces creating that uneasiness.

Interview featured in Cine21, translated by X at Twitchfilm.net, copied from MyBHinfinitely