[Translation] Strangers From Hell Photo Essay Interview
Hi! Today, I’ll be sharing some content from the Strangers From Hell photo essay. After watching the drama early last year, I deliberated whether to get a copy of it (I mean, the show was so scary so I figured that the photos in the book can’t be very aesthetically pleasing), but I decided that Lee Dong Wook as Seo Moon Jo alone would be worth it, and I’m so glad I bought it! The book went out of stock after I ordered, I probably got the last remaining copy. Lucky me!
The book is fairly thick (about 360 pages) with lots of photos from the drama and behind-the-scenes. The book also comes with two autographed postcards, and 4 smaller “polaroids” (they look and feel more like large photo cards to me). The cards were packaged in an envelope bearing the name and (fake) address of Moon Jo’s dental clinic — what a nice and creative touch!
But my focus in this post will be the interviews found in the last section of the book. There are several insightful interviews with the two main leads, the director, the director of photography, art director, and the production team.
Note: It’s too much for me to translate everything, so being a Lee Dong Wook fan, I have only translated his interview and some excerpts from the other interviews that mention him or Moon Jo.
Continue scrolling to read the interviews ↓
Lee Dong Wook’s interview
Q: It was the talk of the town from the moment it was announced that you would be starring in “Strangers From Hell”. Was there any hesitation when you received the offer for the role of Seo Moon Jo?
LDW: I hesitated a little at first. After receiving the offer, I wondered “Will I be able to do a good job? This is not an easy character so how should I approach it?” I had a lot of such concerns. I was able to start on this because the director gave me his full support and trust back then.
Q: I heard that you lost a lot of weight for the sake of the character Seo Moon Jo. We are curious to know what kind of effort you made to portray this character.
LDW: I wanted to give a sharper appearance so I lost weight, but that wasn’t such an important or difficult thing to do in fact. The important thing was how I should go about creating the character. I kept asking myself continuously. How would I be like if I was Seo Moon Jo? How would I talk? How would I walk? And so on. The director also helped out a lot and pondered about this together with me.
Q: Compared to how Jong Woo’s emotions gradually evolved to become more intense, Moon Jo’s emotions were continuously flat. He even appeared to enjoy more as Jong Woo fell deeper into a state of confusion. How did this Seo Moon Jo accept his own death?
LDW: That’s right. Seo Moon Jo was always calm. Without wavering much. This was the kind of Seo Moon Jo that I hoped for. I also wanted to have a contrast against Jong Woo in that aspect. Seo Moon Jo thinks that his plan will be completed through death. Living on to commit murder with Jong Woo and assisting (?) Jong Woo in his killings, I think these things were not important to Seo Moon Jo in the first place. I think he considers everything is accomplished the moment Jong Woo’s true nature is awakened and revealed. Instead, wouldn’t he have died feeling satisfied, thinking that getting himself killed by Jong Woo would be more helpful in awakening Jong Woo’s true nature?
Q: In what aspect did Seo Moon Jo see Jong Woo as special?
LDW: I shall just leave that as Seo Moon Jo’s own “feeling”. He would have felt immediately from his first meeting with Jong Woo and the first conversation they had. A “feeling” that only Seo Moon Jo would know.
Q: What is hell to Seo Moon Jo?
LDW: I’ve never thought of it. Would there be such a thing as hell for Seo Moon Jo? Is he the kind of “human being” who knows how to think of that? I would like to ask this question back instead. Why do you think of Seo Moon Jo in such an ordinary way? Would he think in the same way as us? …Isn’t he just the “devil”?
Q: If there is a character in Strangers From Hell who is the most terrifying, who would that be?
LDW: I think all the characters from Eden Studio are terrifying and should not exist. Just imagine if there were people like that around you… All of the characters from Eden Studio should never exist in this world. But I also did consider that what’s equally scary as that is probably ourselves right? A reporter who only chases for an exclusive piece of news and ignores a murder that happens in front of his eyes, a senior at work who gossips indifferently about his junior’s horrible experience while worrying about what to have for lunch, a close older brother who pretends to care for you but covets his junior’s girlfriend behind his back…I think these are common characters that we may possibly see in the world we live in. Are we actually hell to other people? Or heaven? This is a question that we end up asking ourselves. This is also a message that the drama wishes to convey.
Q: If there was a scene that was most memorable to you while acting as Seo Moon Jo, which scene was it?
LDW: The scene in episode 2 where Yoo Ki Hyuk is murdered. I acted that scene with the idea that this would be the “real first appearance” of Seo Moon Jo. The director also thought the same way. That scene was the turning point where the mood of the drama changes, and it’s also the point where the actual story starts to unfold. I thought that was how important that scene was. It was also my first scene that I shot. I had to act with such intense emotions right from the first filming, so the feeling was rather novel and unique.
Q: You have returned to being the human Lee Dong Wook and you are now no longer Seo Moon Jo. Was it difficult to get out of your character?
LDW: It wasn’t hard. Throughout the time I was filming, I worked hard not to let myself get consumed by Seo Moon Jo and I approached this completely with the mindset of acting only. If I sold myself away to Seo Moon Jo…fortunately all that effort worked and we also had a friendly atmosphere at the film set which helped a lot.
Q: Is there a character that you would like to take on the challenge again in the future? We are really looking forward to it.
LDW: There are way more characters that I have not done before so I will always act with a mindset of challenging myself.
Q: Were you also satisfied with your teamwork with the fellow actors you worked with? How was it like acting with Im Siwan especially?
LDW: I was satisfied of course. I’m very thankful to the director for gathering so many outstanding actors together in one place. I always thought that the director’s casting ability was impressive. I think I was able to express Seo Moon Jo well because of the teamwork with the other actors. I’m truly thankful to everyone. I don’t think it is polite of me to argue about Im Siwan’s acting. I think the viewers will know better than anyone else.
Q: Is it possible for a world where other people are not hell?
LDW: I’m also curious about that. Will that be possible?
Q: Lastly, please say a word to our readers who purchased this photo essay.
LDW: Depending on the viewers, this might be a drama that is hard to watch comfortably, but thank you for all the love and interest all this while. I also want to express my thanks again for loving the drama so much to even purchase the photo essay. Regardless of how this drama will remain in your memory, I hope you will definitely remember this question. “Is it possible for a world where other people are not hell? ” I think this is probably the question that we want to pose to everyone. I also hope that you do not feel a shred of sympathy for Seo Moon Jo at all. Stay healthy. Thank you very much.
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Excerpt from Im Siwan’s interview
Q: How was the teamwork like with the other actors?
SW: The atmosphere is very good and friendly when we chat with one another during our break, till the point that I would forget the genre of our drama. But the gaze in everyone’s eyes will change and everyone will become their respective characters once we start filming. I think everyone’s ability to concentrate is amazing.
Especially for Seo Moon Jo which actor Lee Dong Wook is playing, I was very curious about how he will portray the role since it is a character that did not exist in the original webtoon. I think the way he acted the unique cold facial expressions of Seo Moon Jo was really amazing. I still cannot forget the scene where he killed Yoo Ki Hyuk.
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Excerpt from director (PD) Lee Chang Hee’s interview
Q: How was the teamwork among the actors like at the film set?
PD: “To act as if you are not acting” was the intended direction of our drama. This would have been a tough call if the actors did not develop a degree of closeness with one another. Im Siwan is an actor who has a great ability to immerse himself in the situation. Actress Lee Jung Eun is like a magician who can turn any situation into something real. Actor Lee Dong Wook’s existence in itself creates energy. Although there is a lot of fun from the energy of each of the actors, they shine more when they are gathered together.
Q: Wang Noon (aka “Big Eyes”) from the original webtoon was interpreted differently in the drama, we are curious about the story behind the birth of the character Seo Moon Jo.
PD: Actually if you look from a different perspective, we did not deviate greatly from the original work. We merely wanted to give prominence to Seo Moon Jo who does art and not just murder, like it was mentioned in the lines from the script. That’s why we added Yoo Ki Hyuk, who was his other self but a failed piece of work. Before bringing it to life on screen, we discussed a lot with the writer of the original webtoon, and the writer did well in organising and grasping it. After establishing the character Seo Moon Jo, we retraced his story to think from which point did this person become a serial killer; this process was very interesting to work on. We even had this story: “He was abused during his childhood so he killed his parents and grew up in an orphanage. There, he met Eom Bok Soon, committed murder and lived a fake life.” There were a lot of hidden stories from the past that would be enough to produce a spin-off, and I think this kind of work made the characters even more solid.
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Excerpt from OCN production team’s interview
Q: We can’t avoid asking about the casting. Yoon Jong Woo changes hysterically in the original webtoon. This seems like a different character from what actor Im Siwan has shown all this while, what aspect of actor Im Siwan did you see that made you decide to cast him? It was also very surprising to see actor Lee Dong Wook being cast for the role of Seo Moon Jo.
OCN: Firstly, we checked the responses that readers had about the original webtoon, and we tried searching for actors who matched the feeling and image that came to mind while reading the original webtoon. Jong Woo had a friendly feeling like an ordinary person at the beginning, but he needs to show rising and explosive emotions in the later part, so he is a character that demands a lot of acting skills. When actor Im Siwan’s name was brought up, we immediately thought that he had the best match with that image. We thought that Lee Dong Wook would be able to convey the feeling of “surprise” like you mentioned, so we were looking forward to it. Seo Moon Jo is a character that Jong Woo was least wary of, but he was in fact the most dangerous character. We think he was a right fit as an actor who would be able to make the audience let their guard down from Jong Woo’s perspective.
Q: There were many different views from the audience about the ending of the final episode, such as “Is Seo Moon Jo alive?”, “Did Yoon Jong Woo end up living as a murderer like the residents of the studio?” etc. Could you explain the ending?
OCN: Regarding this question, I shall relay what scriptwriter Jung Yi Do said on his behalf. “I wish to leave this to the viewers’ imagination. The imagination of the viewers is always more surprising than the writer.”
Translated from Korean to English by Gabby. Please credit if sharing on other platforms. Please do not duplicate my entire translation elsewhere without permission. You may translate to other languages.
