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| Actor Lee Jung-jae / Courtesy of Megabox Plus M |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Lee Jung-jae, who rose to global stardom after appearing in Netflix's most-watched series, "Squid Game," said he suffered sleepless nights while writing, directing and acting his directorial debut feature, "The Hunt."
Set in the turbulent 1980s, the action-packed film centers on two rival agents, Park Pyong-ho (Lee) and Kim Jung-do (Jung Woo-sung), who are tasked with uncovering a North Korean spy inside the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). They investigate each other in the process of discovering a larger plot to assassinate the president.
The 50-year-old found acting and directing at the same time daunting and he barely managed to keep up his energy levels to complete the project.
"From writing a screen adaptation to directing and acting, I was sleep-deprived. Some people think transitioning to directing can be risky for an actor, so I felt a greater sense of responsibility," he said. "I was also terrified that I might ruin my 30-year acting career because of this one project."
Wanting to produce "Hunt," Lee had reached out to a string of directors to direct the film. However, they all eventually declined the offer. "I literally contacted the top 20 filmmakers in Korea. They thought the project was too difficult, so that left me with no other choice but to direct it myself," he said.
The first thing he did was rewrite the original script. "The early draft of the film focused on a single protagonist, but I changed it to center on two unit chiefs in the KCIA. The overall message of the film and relationship between the characters changed over time," he said.
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| Actor Lee Jung-jae in a scene from the film, "Hunt" / Courtesy of Megabox Plus M |
"Hunt" had its world premiere in the non-competition Midnight Screening section of the 75th Cannes Film Festival. There he received feedback that the film was "too local" and global audiences cannot keep up with the story because they aren't familiar with Korean politics in the 1980s.
"That was totally understandable. On my flight back home, I started revising some parts of the lines to be able to explain political and social life in Korea during the 1980s. Then, I reedited the entire film and asked the actors to re-record the dialogue," he said.
Lee said he wants the film to capture the attention of global audiences. "Hunt" has been invited to the Gala Presentations section of the 47th Toronto International Film Festival, scheduled for Sept. 8 to 18.
"The film has been sold to 140 countries. Thanks to the global popularity of Korean content, Korean films are also attracting more international buyers at global film markets," he said.
Lee said he still spends sleepless nights promoting "Hunt" during the daytime and being on video calls late into the night as part of his campaign for the Emmy Award.
Lee was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role as Seong Gi-hun in "Squid Game." His nomination, for best lead actor in a drama, was one of 14 the series picked up.
"I realized that Emmy nominees must campaign aggressively in order to lead to successful results. I cannot be in the U.S., so I've been participating in a group of meetings via Zoom late at night, like 2 a.m.," he said. "It's a whole new experience for me. After I got nominated, the organizers even sent me a nomination certificate so I can hang it on my wall, and a couple of gifts, like wine and soap."
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