[Translation] Lee Dong Wook – GQ China December 2021 issue magazine interview

AdminMay 1, 2022

40th, And To Be Continued

From “My Girl” where he built a foundation of his own, to being the perfect partner in “Goblin”, unknowingly, actor Lee Dong Wook has arrived at the age of 40. In our long-distance photoshoot in Korea this time, in the natural light of the photo studio, Lee Dong Wook faced us with a natural and comfortable attitude, but what was captured on camera were his pristine looks and his unexpectedly inner warmth and humour. This contrast is also the most attractive aspect of his personality. Age is like calm water in his pure eyes, nothing has ever changed.

But Lee Dong Wook did not spend his birthday leisurely. He posted a social media update while resting in his van at the set of his drama, saying “I’m also spending my birthday this year at the film set.” In the teasers that were just released, he was fighting shirtless with his co-star actor Wi Ha Joon, in which there was violence in the aesthetics mixed with black comedy. It has been 22 years since his debut and with over 50 dramas and movies in his resume, but Lee Dong Wook shows no signs of slowing, “There has suddenly been more work in recent years, I have been busy working continuously, this is a very big change.” Perhaps to him, acting and work are things that he can freely control in his life, and he is still enjoying it. “I want to leave behind more records of myself when I’m at an age where I can be most active.”

A modelling competition became an opportunity for Lee Dong Wook to debut as an actor. Such an experience would be very good material for a script if it were to be made as a drama. After several months, Lee Dong Wook starred in “School” and “There’s a World Outside of the Road”. Until the time he starred in “My Girl” which was a hit across Asia, Lee Dong Wook had a few quiet years. Thinking back, he said that it wasn’t just the case of “My Girl”, this situation lasted until the time he did “Goblin” in 2016.

The entertainment world is a line of work that has a lot to do with luck, getting famous is almost akin to metaphysics, even in Korea where the entertainment industry is the most advanced and regarded as the (gold) standard — new faces in the industry are being “mass produced” — no one can guarantee if a moment of popularity is able to bring lasting fame. After all, the hardest thing to grasp is the taste and aesthetic preferences of the audience. With a non-professional background, and neither is he a talented athlete, Lee Dong Wook has had a tough time running in this race as an actor.

Even though he has been consistently working over the years, he has also experienced a low in his career after his discharge from the army. Although there are ups and downs in the praise and viewership ratings of his works, his steady hard work over the years has made him likeable to the public, and his diverse viewership base has helped in getting him several classic roles — he was young and restrained but calm and responsible in “My Girl”; he was depressed and neurotic in “A Bittersweet Life”; his breakthrough acting and contrasting tension in “Strangers From Hell” allowed him to break away from the preconceived image that audiences had of him and he made a villain fatally attractive; and in “Tale of the Nine Tailed”, he made the audience fall irresistibly for the unparalleled beauty of a male gumiho.

In his job and identity as an actor, Lee Dong Wook has never repeated the shallow role of a “handsome male lead”, but challenged himself over and over again with deep and complex characters, making breakthroughs beyond the good reputation and comfort zone of his past works. Even his role as the grim reaper in “Goblin”, Lee Dong Wook took the first step to seek out and fight for the role for himself, even before the script was completed.

Regarding acting, Lee Dong Wook has always been serious and hardworking, and as he gradually broadened his horizons, his heart also became more at ease. If we were to say that the success of an actor in a drama comes from teamwork, then “Because I Want To Talk” is an even bigger surprise. Besides the added fan service of “Gobin couple” with Gong Yoo, big names from the industry such as “Train to Busan” director Yeon Sang Ho, actress Kim Seo Hyung, singer BoA and comedian Lee Soo Geun also guested on the show, and there were also guests from other fields of work.

This is perhaps the most personal piece of work from actor Lee Dong Wook — the talk show began with him, and how he maintained the flow of the show, how he carried on the conversation with the guests, and how he positioned the limelight and focal point of the story on the guests he spoke to. Besides having ample life experience, the feelings of genuineness and sincerity are things that cannot be made up for using acting skills. This is not an easy task especially for Lee Dong Wook who is quite introverted.

Following host Lee Dong Wook as he talks about deeper topics, along with co-host Jang Do Yeon who makes injects humour timely and skillfully, within a one-hour long episode, the show revealed a wonderful world that not many people know of. “Actually I’ve always wanted to do a talk show. Getting to meet people from unfamiliar fields and chatting together always makes me happy. It also helps me to look at the world in a new perspective.” As to whether there are plans to do a second season, he immediately reverted back to his self as an actor, “I don’t think it’s likely within the short term, these days I want to focus on acting.”

Currently, Lee Dong Wook has gone back to acting, he is continuously running hard in 2021, and this has become the most important note in his life now. On his face that has not been overly eroded by time, there is no emotion, sadness or joy. He has devoted all his acting to the job that he loves, walking like a gentleman without stopping, rushing or slowing down. As he enters the best time of his 40s, what he has gotten in exchange is round after round that is to be continued. To Lee Dong Wook, this couldn’t be more ordinary and blessed.

6 pieces of trivia about Lee Dong Wook:

1. Lee Dong Wook likes to ad-lib his lines and acting while filming, and these are often retained and included in the actual version that is aired.

2. For every fan meeting, Lee Dong Wook personally participates in the entire execution of the event from the initial planning to site selection and other details. Even after this was changed to virtual meetings, he always does them for a sufficiently long time and frequently interacts and chats with fans.

3. Everyone praises Lee Dong Wook’s model-like proportions. In fact, he first started his career in the V-NESS model contest in 1999, but before he had the chance to shine in magazines or the runway, he went directly into acting on TV.

4. Although he has no confidence in singing, Lee Dong Wook once recorded a song for his drama “Bubblegum”, and also sang “City of Stars” twice on TV.

5. Lee Dong Wook lives his life very “ordinarily” — sleep, read occasionally, cook, tidies his own room, meets up with his non-celebrity friends, and lying in bed to watch his favourite sports programme. “Having a day pass by without incident is the most blessed thing.”

6. He shot to popularity throughout Asia again through “Goblin”, but Lee Dong Wook remains very calm and rational. When the show was completed successfully, Lee Dong Wook sent a message to writer Kim Eun Sook, “I had fun playing freely in this world which you created, I’m very happy.” Amid that is a mix of warmth and gratitude, he is indeed the pure and unattainable person in everyone’s hearts.

Translated from Chinese to English by Gabby from hardcopy magazine. May contain some inaccuracies. Please credit if sharing on other platforms. Please do not duplicate my entire translation elsewhere without permission. You may translate to other languages.