Lee Byung-hun in a promo photograph for “Squid Recreation” season 2. Picture: Netflix Korea
A family identify in Korea with a profession spanning 34 years, Lee Byung-hun returns to the display because the enigmatic villain in season two of Netflix’s international hit “Squid Recreation.” Having made a tantalizing cameo within the present’s inaugural season, Lee now instructions middle stage because the complicated mastermind often known as Frontman.
The acclaimed actor — whose filmography boasts iconic hits similar to “Inside Males” and “Mr. Sunshine” — tackles the intricate layers of Frontman, a personality whose chilling authority conceals a convoluted previous.
Season one left viewers speculating about his id, however the second installment peels again the curtain to disclose the person behind the masks: Hwang In-ho, a former champion of the lethal video games himself.
For Lee, embodying Frontman was a psychological marathon. Past his duties because the malevolent architect, within the new season, Frontman assumes the alias Younger-il to infiltrate the competitors alongside Ki-hun (performed by Lee Jung-jae), who returns decided to cease the video games.
In a latest interview, Lee revealed that the best problem in portraying Frontman was navigating the complexity of the character’s three identities: Younger-il, Hwang In-ho, and Frontman.
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“Viewers learn about Frontman, however they don’t learn about Hwang In-ho,” Lee shared throughout a bunch interview in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, Wednesday.
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“On high of that, I needed to disguise my id and act as Younger-il in entrance of the brand new sport contributors. I felt that each one three of those characters needed to coexist inside me. It was a steady strategy of shifting between these personas in every scene,” stated Lee.
When requested about probably the most grueling second in portraying the Frontman, Lee pointed to the scene involving the mingle sport, the place contributors needed to type teams primarily based on a randomly assigned quantity and race to a room earlier than time expired.
“Probably the most troublesome scene was through the (mingle) sport, the place I killed a participant proper in entrance of Jung-bae. In that scene, I felt that Entrance Man, Hwang In-ho, and Oh Younger-il needed to shift forwards and backwards inside a cut up second. Expressing these refined variations was the toughest half,” he stated.
In dissecting Frontman’s overarching technique, Lee famous that his character assumes a indifferent omnipresence, a determine pulling strings from the shadows.
“Frontman is somebody who appears to be like down from above. Within the sport, he watched Ki-hun carefully from proper beside him with that very perspective. He anticipated what Ki-hun would assume and the way he would act, even driving him into determined conditions whereas taking part in alongside him,” he stated.
Lee’s masterful portrayal of a layered character follows his worldwide profession. A pioneer amongst Korean actors making their mark in Hollywood, Lee debuted on the worldwide stage with the 2009 blockbuster “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.” Since then, he’s shared display time with cinematic heavyweights in “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” “Terminator Genisys,” “Misconduct” and “The Magnificent Seven.”
His trajectory appeared destined for Hollywood stardom, but an sudden twist has emerged, positioning Lee on the middle of a completely completely different wave of recognition.
Regardless of his notable Hollywood credentials, Lee confessed that it’s by his function within the cultural phenomenon “Squid Recreation” that his worldwide fame has skyrocketed.
“I’ve skilled Hollywood blockbusters just a few occasions, however being welcomed abroad for performing in Korean whereas appearing alongside Korean colleagues feels utterly completely different,” he stated. “It’s ironic but deeply transferring that I’m receiving extra recognition for Korean works than for Hollywood movies,” he added.
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“As an actor, I at all times thought the best life could be to be considerably identified wherever I’m. After filming ‘G.I. Joe,’ I believed, ‘To any extent further, I’m removed from having a reasonably well-known life; I’ll turn out to be very well-known.’ I believed that just a few occasions after, however after I went abroad, nobody acknowledged me,” Lee laughed.
“However this time, it feels actual. I really feel like I’ll stay as a widely known individual in the intervening time,” he stated.
