Lee Jin Hyuk, “I wanted to put down ‘SNL’ more, but the writer and PD stopped me” [Photoshoot]

A pictorial of actor and singer Lee Jin Hyuk has been revealed. Lee Jin Hyuk, who stood in front of the camera, created A-cuts one after another with smooth posing, from a boyish concept to a hip mood, receiving praise from the on-site staff.

Lee Jin Hyuk, who debuted as a member of the group UP10TION in 2015 and appeared on the Mnet audition show ‘Produce X 101’, received much love. He joined the new crew of Coupang Play‘s entertainment show ’SNL Korea Season 6‘ and proved his diverse acting spectrum by playing a supporting role.

Lee Jin Hyuk first shared his thoughts on the photoshoot, saying, “It was awkward because it was the first pictorial I’ve shot in a long time, but if I remember correctly, it was the first and last pictorial of the year, so I think I wanted to do well.” Regarding his recent activities, he said, “Recently, after finishing the Coupang Play comedy show ‘SNL Korea Season 6,’ I prepared for other content planning and drama auditions. I also attended several award ceremonies.”

When asked about his mindset going into the Coupang Play comedy show ‘SNL Korea Season 6,’ he said, “When I auditioned for SNL in July of this year, I had a lot of concerns about acting. I kept failing auditions and it was a time when I thought, ‘Maybe I’m lacking a lot,‘ so I tried hard to create characters with depth while preparing for SNL. I think the production staff and crew liked that, so I joined.”

He said he had no concerns about making a bold transformation through comedic acting or ruining himself. Lee Jin-hyuk said, “The artists around me would scold me, saying, ’You could have put it down more, but why did you act so uncharacteristically?‘” Many people loved the character ‘The Purpose of the Club’, and I felt good because I seemed to have shown a good side of myself, but in fact, I wanted to let it go more,“ he said. He continued, ”For actor Kim Eui-seong, during the Busan Live Show, I wore contact lenses and did some realistic zombie makeup, but the PD said, ‘Isn’t it too scary? It has to be funny.’. ‘The PD told me that I should never be greedy for a gag in the first shoot and that I have to act well so that people will find the situation funny. So I had to immerse myself in the situation and approach it seriously,“ and when I told him that, even the CEO said, ‘Yeah, that‘s right, but isn’t it too scary?’ The writer and PD tried to talk me out of it, asking me to give it some leeway,” he said with a laugh.

Regarding his chemistry with his seniors, “I‘m so grateful that all the crew members cared so much and viewed it favorably. Since the seniors were such professionals, rather than thinking about doing something, all I could think about was, ’I have to win somehow.‘ My seniors told me, ’You‘re really amazing,’ but I tried hard to get more recognition. “The senior who was really hard to beat was Ahn Young-mi, who had unrivaled momentum. I thought about how I could overcome that momentum. I think the person who actively reflected the opinions of the new crew members and listened to their worries a lot was senior Lee Rang, with whom we filmed a lot as an adulterous couple and had a lot of chemistry,” he recalled.

When asked if there was a genre he wanted to appear in or a character he wanted to challenge himself with in the future, he said, “I‘ve mostly played good roles like college students or younger men, but I really want to film a drama or movie with a really solid villain role like seniors Kim Hee-won and Kim Sung-ho in ’The Man from Nowhere.‘ He chose “I also like a mischievous role,” adding, “I’ve been meeting a lot of independent film directors these days, and I’ve been thinking a lot about wanting to try my hand at screen acting, regardless of whether it’s commercial or independent.”

When asked about an actor he would most like to act with, he said, “I quickly learned a lot while watching my seniors act and getting in sync with them,” and “I want to act with seniors Jo Seung Woo and Lee Do Hyun, who are really good at acting, and learn from them.”

We also asked him about his plans as a singer. He said, “My 6th album, which was released in April, was a project that I personally had a lot of regrets about. I often think about whether I could let go of music while acting. There’s a lot of prejudice that actors have a hard time because of their idol image, but I’m someone who wants to break that. I plan to show various sides of myself by releasing small digital singles while working as an actor,” he said, expressing his love for music.

Regarding the Japanese fan meeting last September, he said, “I mainly held fan meetings in Korea and went to overseas fan meetings, but problems kept arising, so the fan meetings that were scheduled for June and July kept getting postponed, and then I ended up doing SNL and I put a lot of effort into it, but it didn’t go ahead easily. Then the Japanese fan meeting happened,” and explained, “I haven’t been to Japan since Produce X 101, so it’s been almost 6 years since I went, and the fans who have been watching me since I was active in UP10TION have grown a lot. My friends who were students are preparing for employment, and I was in my 3rd year of middle school but now work at a company… It was a fan meeting that gave me a new feeling.”

When asked if there was a program he would like to appear on, he said, “I want to go on the YouTube channel ‘Salty Brother Shin Dong Yup’ and have a drink and chat with Shin Dong Yup. There are hardly any people who have seen me drunk. When I’m drunk, I just feel free, and I don‘t think I’ve ever really gotten excited or blacked out. I don‘t enjoy drinking, but I have a high tolerance,” he said.

In response to a question about a slump, he said, “I get into a slump once every three months,” and “Whenever the so-called burnout comes, I just let it go, thinking it’s come.” In the past, I had the tendency to reignite the fire to somehow overcome it, but when I did that, it felt like it burned down more and turned into ashes, and I felt like I was losing more emotions, so I changed to taking a short break and going back,” he revealed.

Lastly, when asked how he wants to be remembered by the public, he said, “You cheered me on a lot during Produce X 101 in the past, and it feels good to see you working hard now,” and recently, when I heard people say, “I thought you were a singer, but you were an actor,” and “I thought you were an actor, but you were a singer,” it felt really good. I think it’s because I show various sides of myself, but it makes people look at me with different perspectives. I hope that the three characters of Lee Jin-hyuk will remain in people’s memories as a singer and actor,” he concluded the interview.

Jung Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com