Lee Sang-yoon: On becoming a grade-schooler, dancing for his craft, and the power of hair

by girlfriday

It’s only been a week since tvN’s ajumma-turned-college-freshman romantic comedy Twenty Again wrapped, but lead actor Lee Sang-yoon has already done a gazillion interviews and been on a vacation. Who feels lazy? The heartwarming series, starring Choi Ji-woo as a woman who rediscovers herself at 38, was another hit for the cable network’s Friday-Saturday drama slot (the show peaked at 7.6% average ratings for the finale), and cast and crew were treated to a getaway in Phuket. Adorable pictures with costars Choi Ji-woo and Choi Won-young below.

This is a collection of quotes from multiple interviews, in which Lee Sang-yoon discusses Twenty Again and his character at length, and his experiences working with Choi Ji-woo and writer So Hyun-kyung (Two Weeks, My Daughter Seo-young, 49 Days, Prosecutor Princess, Brilliant Legacy) again.

The 34-year-old actor debuted, ironically, as Choi Ji-woo’s first love in Air City (2007), only to come full circle as her leading man in Twenty Again who can’t get over his first love. Do all drama roads just lead to Choi Ji-woo? When asked about his prickly-but-thoughtful, petty-but-swoony character Cha Hyun-seok, he said:

“I had fun because it was my first time playing a character with so many different personality traits — a man in his 30s who on the outside looks successful and cool, who becomes a childish grade-schooler in front of his first love. I thought, ‘This is the fun of acting,’ and it made me want to play lots of varied characters.”

About Cha Hyun-seok’s thoughtfulness towards Ha Nora (Choi Ji-woo), he said: “Truthfully it’s hard for a man to be that meticulous in caring for someone — in secret when you don’t want her to know, coming out strong when you need to, sometimes caring for her humorously. I think a lot of women liked that. Even I thought, ‘That guy is impressive.’ I can’t even take care of someone and pretend I didn’t, because I’m not that nice to begin with. Cha Hyun-seok and I are about 50% alike.”

“Writer So Hyun-kyung wrote Cha Hyun-seok to be cool. When he’s preparing everything for the woman he loves and helping her, I wondered if there really is a man who would go to that extent. He’s an awfully diligent guy,” he said with a laugh. He concluded, “I think he’s an ideal. I’m sure he could exist in real life, but it wouldn’t be easy.”

He talked about having to dance for the first time (when Hyun-seok takes Nora on a blast to the past in their school uniforms): “Truthfully I can’t dance. But I let go of myself, and let go of my sanity, and danced for the role. But people who have danced before should do the dancing, because I pulled something in my neck and was in pain the next day.”

When asked about whether he thought his character Hyun-seok had dated anyone else in the 20 years that he hadn’t seen Nora, he said, “It’s like he was stopped and then started living again. I saw it that way. Actually we talked about it a lot, especially the director and I, about whether Hyun-seok had dated or not. I think that even if Hyun-seok dated, he’s never been in a relationship where he opened his heart. You can say that the scars from his first love kept him from giving his heart away. That heart opened up for the first time in 20 years.”

He was asked about his reunion with Choi Ji-woo since 2007’s Air City, and he said, “It was fun. Sunbaenim’s bouncy charisma and innocence fit the character well. The writer told us that our chemistry came across onscreen. Choi Ji-woo sunbaenim remembered me from Air City — after the script reading, she told me she remembered my incredible foot-acting [terrible acting] back then. I knew I was bad, but I didn’t know she’d call it foot-acting. I want to ask her now, ‘Was I okay? I tried really hard this time. To redeem myself for the foot-acting.'”

About acting with her this time around: “The drama itself was so fun, and the character was good. And because I could be immersed in my partner Choi Ji-woo sunbaenim’s emotions, I think the result was naturally fun. I think I just benefited from Choi Ji-woo sunbae — more than doing anything, I just followed Nora’s emotions and helped her, which ended up making me look cool.”

“The chemistry on set was really fun. [Choi Ji-woo] is such an upbeat person that she made Ha Nora even more vibrant and energetic. It could’ve been a heavy story, but she made it bright and happy. She even played the bickering scenes in a cute way, so I think my reactions were more fun.”

This is Lee Sang-yoon’s second time working with writer So Hyun-kyung, after the hit weekend drama My Daughter Seo-young alongside Lee Bo-young. When asked about his chemistry with his costars, he said, “I think the dramas’ color was determined by them [Choi Ji-woo, Lee Bo-young]. The writer wrote the characters well, of course, but Seo-young and Nora were changed because of the way Lee Bo-young and Choi Ji-woo played them. I just worked hard to follow them; there was nothing else that I did.”

For future projects, he named Jeon Mi-sun and Ha Ji-won as actresses he’s always wanted to work with, and his Life Is Beautiful costars Song Chang-eui and Lee Sang-woo as the actors he’d want to reunite with: “We’ve talked about what it would be like to do another project together. All three of us are busy working so I don’t know if it’s possible, but we’re so close that I think it would be really fun to play three brothers.”

Apparently the writer didn’t initially consider Lee Sang-yoon for Twenty Again: “Writer So Hyun-kyung told me that she didn’t even consider offering me the role because she thought I wouldn’t do it — that I wouldn’t want to play an older character who reunites with his first love who has a 20-year-old son. But I would do any project if she wrote it, no matter what the role is. As long as it’s not a grandpa, if it’s within the scope of possibility, I want to do it.”

About the loveline in Twenty Again, he said, “The writer warned us that if we’re not careful, it’ll end up looking like Nora is having an affair. She entreated us to be careful even if Nora was divorced in practice, and asked us to portray it well. She said that we would be a hair’s breadth away from being unlikable, and we couldn’t be unlikable. She said, ‘If it feels like you like her as a woman, it’ll look like you’re trying to steal her away from her husband.’ She took great pains to make it so that this wouldn’t be the case, but could still have a man being good to a woman.”

He thought that the amount of skinship was appropriate given the story: “I think it was just right. If it had been any stronger or any milder, I think the audience would’ve said, ‘What?'”

I was interested to learn that there was a reason behind Cha Hyun-seok’s super prickly characterization that softened as the drama went on: “At first we had slightly different interpretations about the direction of the character. We only had a short time to prepare and went straight into production right after the script reading. The director and writer thought of the character in a different way than I had.”

“So you’ll see that in Episodes 1 and 2, Cha Hyun-seok is pricklier and more unrestrained, and then later he changed to become gentler on the outside, smiling when he talks, but very exact in his opinions. We also discussed at length whether he would be serious or bouncy. The person who took care of that was Choi Ji-woo sunbae. Her acting was bouncy and [Choi] Won-young hyung was funny, so that determined the overall color.”

When asked what he would do differently if he were 20 again, he said, “I want to play without regret.” As for his real-life first love? “I was extremely timid. I couldn’t even confess my feelings. Now I would be proactive and confess. I don’t do the push and pull very well but I don’t hide my feelings anymore. My personality changed when I began acting. I used to be afraid of expressing my feelings to someone else, but now I’ve become bold.”

He was asked what he gained from Twenty Again, and he said, “I gained young fans. And more than anything, I think I showed that I could play varied characters. I didn’t understand it before when actors would say, ‘I want to be an actor to live varied lives,’ but I came to understand that now. I am worried about gaining teenage fans though [which he says began with Liar Game]. I started getting young fans when I changed my hairstyle. When I wear my hair down I look younger, and my real age comes out when I put my hair up. I think they’ll look at me and say, ‘Why did he get so old?'”

But he’s finding that there are upsides, as an actor: “As I get older, I think I learn more of the world than I knew before, and I’m better able to express the taste or depth of an emotion. It’s a small difference, but I think the audience feels it.”

His goal: “Aging well like an adult. It’s something I’m always thinking about in my 30s. I want to become someone who is appealing at my age as I continue to get older, who leaves a lasting impression.”

Via Asia Today, Chic News, OBS, OBS 2, DongA, Kookje, Asiae, Star News, Sports Chosun, BNT, BNT 2, TV Report, Herald

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