Approaching 40, Lee Min-ho hopes to show something new, calls marriage 'a miracle'

From his first reading of the script for “Assassin(s),” Lee Min-ho had a clear idea of what his character, Young-il, should bring to the film: constant movement and a burst of energy to keep a potentially heavy story from becoming too solemn.

“When I read the script, I felt Young-il’s role was to breathe life into the story,” Lee said in a recent interview with the Hankook Ilbo. “The director also said he wanted him to feel like a live fish. I experimented with a lot of movement during rehearsals, and he liked it. So I planned how Young-il would move in every scene.”

A line about ssanghwa tea, a traditional Korean herbal drink, was also Lee’s idea, capturing the character’s sly humor. The original script gave him a lengthy stretch of dialogue in which he tried to get information out of another character, but Lee felt the scene risked becoming predictable.

The idea grew out of his understanding of Young-il’s purpose in the story and his determination to avoid familiar ways of expressing it. By varying the character’s dialogue and movements without disrupting the film’s flow, Lee made Young-il his own.

“Assassin(s)” also marks the closing chapter of Lee’s 30s. The actor was candid about his feelings as he approaches 40.

“I feel a lot of pressure about that first digit changing,” he said. “But I’m trying to approach life with a mindset that allows me to feel freer, regardless of my age.”

As he wrestles with that transition, one thing he wants to preserve is his ability to surprise audiences. Despite his years of acting, he has no intention of falling back on familiar emotions or repeating what he has already shown.

“I think I have a strong desire to offer something fresh,” he said. “I feel most satisfied when people say, ‘I haven’t seen that side of him before,’ or ‘That feels fresh.’ I don’t want to keep acting only to show the same emotions or give the same impression. With every project, I want to add something new.”

That desire has also drawn him toward a different kind of romantic drama. Lee hopes to one day work with director Hur Jin-ho, known for his mature portrayals of love, on an intense story of passion and jealousy.

“I asked him about it once, and he said he wanted his final film to be a romance,” Lee said. “So I told him I’d love to make a drama about passion and jealousy with his sensibility, and he was very enthusiastic. It’s a kind of romance I haven’t tried before, so it would give me a lot to think about. I’m curious to see what that sort of film would look like in his hands.”

For Lee, the set of “Assassin(s)” became more than a place to shoot his scenes and leave. He visited even on days when he was not scheduled to work, inspired in large part by co-star Park Hae-il.

“Hae-il came in almost every day of the shoot, whether he had scenes or not,” Lee said. “Seeing that, how could I stay away? The set felt comfortable, like being with family. On days when I wondered how things were going, I would go and soak up the atmosphere.”

Watching Park up close, Lee discovered an actor who combined gravitas with innocence.

“In Hae-il, I saw both an adult wrestling with difficult questions and carrying a heavy burden, and a boy who was still curious about so many things,” Lee said. “That duality was incredibly appealing. He’s an actor who can tell a story in his own voice, without adding or taking anything away, and let you see it with complete clarity.”

Lee, too, tends to follow his curiosity wherever it leads. An interest in a particular war takes him beyond the conflict itself to explore its underlying causes, geographical context and, eventually, the struggle for economic dominance. He believes even seemingly unrelated events are ultimately connected within society.

YouTube is one of his main windows onto the world. Recently, watching individual creators tell their personal stories has sparked an interest in how technology shapes people’s emotions. Discovering artificial intelligence (AI)-generated music has also made him curious about new ways to create.

“I’d like to try composing music, but the legal framework around AI isn’t fully established yet, so I haven’t pursued it seriously,” he said. “Technology has come a long way in allowing us to experience things we otherwise couldn’t. If something really grabs me one day, perhaps I’ll give it a try.”

On the prospect of AI actors, Lee acknowledged the technology’s potential but spoke of the warmth that people bring. He said he could imagine spending 10 minutes watching nothing but someone’s hands making coffee in a vlog.

“When it comes to conversation, though, I prefer talking to people,” he added with a laugh.

The same thoughtfulness informs his choice of projects. Asked why he had appeared in relatively few films compared with television dramas, Lee said it was only after turning 30 that he began to feel drawn to cinema.

“In my 20s, even when I went to the cinema, I rarely watched films starring people my age or younger. I preferred films that made me feel something and that I could find my own meaning in,” he said. “Even though I was an actor, it wasn’t until I was past 30 that I wanted to make films. The line between film and television has blurred now, but in my 20s, people would ask whether I was just chasing popularity.

“Now I think I’ve reached an age where I can carry a story and bring my own emotional perspective and view of society to it. Those are the kinds of projects I find myself prioritizing.”

Lee was reluctant to predict what his 40s would look like. He believes changes in his personal life will have a greater influence on his acting than any career plan.

“If I start a family or go through a major change in my life, I think I’ll change quite dramatically too,” he said. “Rather than a deliberate change as an actor, those life changes would shape the qualities I bring to my work. So it’s difficult to predict right now.”

He was equally candid about marriage.

“I think marriage is something of a miracle,” he said. “These days, divorce and people choosing not to date are discussed as social issues. Looking at that, I don’t think I’m the only one who finds the idea of marriage daunting.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.