For actor Lee Joon-hyuk, the SBS drama ‘My Perfect Secretary’ was a more burdensome project than ever. It wasn‘t just because it was his first romance drama in six years since he had mainly appeared in genre dramas. The reason was that he was worried whether viewers would be able to completely accept this character, who was ‘good-looking’ as a basic setting.

However, his worries were unfounded. Not only was the drama a success, but it also earned Lee Joon-hyuk the title of ‘New Romantic Comedy King’. Regarding the enthusiastic response, Lee Joon-hyuk said, “I’m not the type to really feel (popularity), but even friends who don‘t usually compliment me contact me often. I guess people liked this kind of thing,” he said with a laugh.

Oh, I respect Han Ji-min.

In the drama, he played the role of the perfect secretary Yoo Eun-ho and showed off a heart-fluttering romance with Han Ji-min, who played the role of CEO Kang Ji-yoon, who is good at everything. Although it felt unfamiliar to act in a romance after such a long time, he reflected that his character was able to seem more appealing thanks to the help of Han Ji-min, a self-proclaimed ‘romance master’.

“(Han) Ji-min is an actress who brings her lines to life amazingly. Even somewhat unrealistic lines make sense when Ji-min says them. Above all, she is very sincere. The definition of ‘great acting’ changes slightly with time and era, but the fact that ‘sincerity on set’ is the right answer never changes. In that respect, I always respect Jimin’s sincerity.“

Regarding his outstanding looks, which are the biggest contributor to his gathering of female fans, he was embarrassed and said, ”It‘s because of the brainwashing effect of mass media.“

”The staff played a big part. I do the acting, but the character is created by everyone from the lighting to the camera angles, makeup, and costumes. I think that an actor is just one of the expensive props on set. Everyone’s effort is put into that prop.“

O“Late popularity? I can‘t believe it”

The hardest thing during filming was ‘diet control’. The famous big eater sighed when asked, “Are you relieving the regret of not being able to eat since the end of the show?” “I just got into a project and I still can’t eat.”

“There are actors who don’t gain weight no matter how much they eat, and I think that’s a natural talent. (Han) Jimin said that. He said he boiled and ate three packages of ramen the day before filming. I feel a sense of relative deprivation whenever I hear stories like that. “I love snacks so much that I really want to eat them but I can’t, so I recently ordered six boxes of diet protein snacks.”

With the successive success of his leading roles, he has become a “star” 20 years after his debut, but he said calmly, “I’m 42 years old now, so it’s hard to get excited.”

“I’m thankful that I don’t have to worry about not having my next job right away, but to me, this job (acting) is like the “squid game.” It’s survival. That’s why I don’t have any fantasies (about being a star). I just want to continue doing my job, my career.”


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.