Lee Min Ho said he’s not afraid to play the villain yet received negative reactions from netizens

Lee Min Ho has recently shared about his role in the upcoming drama.

Right before the premiere day of the drama Pachinko, Lee Min Ho received an interview to share about the process of implementing this international project, including the language barrier, the makeover to play the villain as well as the casting process for the drama.

Despite being an internationally famous actor, unlike the other names, Lee Min Ho had to attend a casting session to receive the role of Pachinko’s Hansu. “It’s been 13 years since my last audition so I almost forgot about the process. Casting isn’t just a process to show your acting skills but it’s a process to see if your ideology and characteristics match up with the character and how deeply you’ve thought about the character. I like casting because it doesn’t matter if I’m a celebrity or not. I was satisfied because this was a process that  reminded me of my old self.” – Lee Min Ho shared.

Perhaps it is because he is often associated with the role of a rich and infatuated prince, so Lee Min Ho is not the choice that the Pachinko team aimed at from the beginning. The fact that he had to go to the casting by himself also showed that he was very excited and wanted to renew himself with this role. Lee Min Ho also shared that he is not afraid to play the villain and considers Pachinko “as a new beginning for his career in the next 10 years.”

In particular, because this is an international project, produced in 3 languages Korean – Japanese – English, Lee Min Ho, who was once considered poor in foreign languages, encountered many difficulties. 

“There’s a lot of difficulties when it comes to languages. I realize that it’s not easy to express emotions through a script written in another language. And I feel like I should put in more effort. Everyone communicating in English, so it was a new experience for me to communicate with English speakers and Japanese speakers.”

It’s hardly unexpected that Lee Min Ho received a lot of negative reactions after these statements. Lee Min Ho has been nailing his image for over a decade. He is said to be an actor who is lazy to change, afraid to take risks, and is afraid of damaging his image. The fact that he said he wasn’t afraid to play a villain made the crowd laugh rather than appreciate him as in reality, playing a villain is no big deal for an actor. The issue of Lee Min Ho being unable to play the role of poverty due to “too luxurious face” was also mentioned.

Netizens’ comments:

• Over 10 years as an actor in his late 30s, he said as if he was a rookie actor.
• He never changes the type of role he plays. I don’t understand how he can become an A-list star when there are so many hard-working actors out there that don’t get any attention.
• Hearing him brag about not being afraid to act as a villain, it’s ridiculous. He’s been an actor for so many years, but I thought he was new to acting
• A good actor is someone who can play all kinds of roles. Lee Min Ho is not as talented as his fans always boast.

Season 1 of Pachinko will consist of 8 episodes. The first 3 episodes of the series will premiere on Apple TV+ on March 25, the next episodes of season 1 will air every Friday.