[Director, can you take a look at this screen?
Do you remember which movie it was?]
[Lee Jung-jae/Director/Actor: Hourglass, Contemplation, Assassination, Squid Game, Hunt, Thieves, Maid, No Sun, New World.
Oh man, I feel like I’ve done a lot of movies and dramas…
.]
From 'Hourglass' Baek Jae-hee to 'Squid Game' Sung Ki-hoon, actor Lee Jung-jae has been 30 years since his debut.
I met Lee Jung-jae, who has worked with the Korean film renaissance, and heard about the past, present, and future of K-content.
In 1995, the drama 'Hourglass', which not only exceeded the average viewership rating of 50% at the box office, but also revealed the strong social nature of K-content.
[Lee Jung-jae/Director/Actress: At that time, I was in my early 20s, so I was just starting as an actor
. In 1999, he gained confidence in his acting by winning the Best Actor Award at the Blue Dragon Film Awards in 1999, beating the best actors of the time such as Choi Min-sik and Han Suk-kyu for the movie 'No Sun'.
It was just the beginning of the heyday of Korean cinema, with the huge hit of the Korean blockbuster 'Shiri' and the opening of the first multiplex.
However, for about 10 years after winning the award, Lee Jung-jae spent a period of stagnation, leaving no major works in terms of both box office and workmanship.
In the 2010s, Korean films adopted a Hollywood production method that casts several star actors at a time.
[Lee Jung-jae/Director/Actor: I think I started to play a character that was not as important as before when I was a maid.
As multicasting took place in Korea, it was a time when such films were activated, which were enough to be fun to watch many actors, so New World, Contemplation, Assassination, Thieves,
etc. Back in 'Assassination' as well.]
[Lee Jung-jae/Director/Actor: In particular, in the case of 'Assassination', I also refused at first.
I can be a thief and do anything, but I can't do anything that sells the country.
So I said 'I can't do it', but only one line remained in my head.
In response to Jun Ji-hyun's question, 'Why did you betray your country?']
[I didn't know if I would be liberated, so I would have done it if I knew.]
[Lee Jung-jae/Director/Actor: Ah, this could remain as a meaningful character for me (I thought) .]
The years of ups and downs experienced as a top star and a wide range of challenges to the character eventually led to the 'squid game'.
[Lee Jung-jae/Director and Actor: 'Squid Game' is a very big turning point.
Because 'no other Korean content has had such great success'
[I'm really curious at what point they (foreigners) pay attention to K-contents and Korean movies?]
[Lee Jung-jae/Director/Actor: It seems that they pay a lot of attention to diversity.
Second, it seems that they are quite surprised that they raised the level of perfection even with a very small budget.]
Jung-jae Lee makes his directorial debut with the movie 'The Hunt', which will be released next week.
He is a four-man role from screenplay, director, starring, and production.
Enlarging an image
Enlarging an image
[Lee Jung-jae/Director and Actor: When I first entered the film industry in my 20s, there were a lot of very bad words about what an actor is directing.
"I'm only good at one thing" But now, as the year 2000 has passed, there are many things that have become possible little by little (acters directing), but in particular, there has been no great success in works directed by actors.
Whether it's a box office hit or a work of art, I've been working for 30 years now, and I hope someone can make a successful case (I thought).]
'Hunt' is a popular genre of 'espionage action' in the appearance of democratization movement and The story of the turbulent 80's of inter-Korean confrontation is melted in a captivating way.
Mr. Lee Jung-jae, who celebrated his 30 years of debut, and the challenge of K-content is currently ongoing.
(Planning: Ho-Gun Lee, Composition: Hee-Suk Shin, Video coverage: Chang-Hyeon Cho, Jun-Sik Choi, Seung-Tae Kim, Editing: Kyung-Yeon Kim, CG: Su-In Jo, So-Min Eom, Dong-Min Seo)