Squid Game actor Lee Jung-jae steps behind the camera with an espionage-action film set in the 80s

Global audiences know Lee Jung-jae as the star of Netflix's Squid Game, but the actor has been famous in South Korea for decades. He entered the industry as a fashion model before making his acting debut in 1993. 

In the series, Lee plays Seong Gi-hun, a divorced father desperate for money. He enters a potentially fatal competition for the chance to win 45.6 billion won, which he needs to support his daughter and mother. Squid Game became Netflix's most-watched series at its launch, dominating the internet and prompting restaurants to sell dalgona candy popularized by the show. For his performance, Lee won a Blue Dragon Film Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Emmy.

Lee's longtime fans are trying to brush up his international image, away from Seong Gi-hun and his gambling addiction. The campaign, described as "The Real Lee Jung-jae," promotes old photos of Lee to prove he's not the scruffy guy from Squid Game — he's a debonair bad boy. 

In a new interview on Q with Tom Power, Lee says that he's encouraged by the tremendous support he's received, especially as he ventures into new territory. The actor is making his directorial debut with Hunt, an espionage action film set in South Korea during military dictatorship in the 1980s. Though the story is fictional, it takes place during a very real time of pro-democracy protests, mass arrests, and assassination attempts. Lee also wrote the script and stars in the film as a Korean Central Intelligence Agency chief, using all his talents to bring Hunt to life.

With his projects reaching a wider audience than ever before, Lee recognizes how important it is to create thoughtful content, but also how internationally relatable films can be. He tells Q that we are now in a time where stories resonate globally, thanks to the help of subtitles, and he is grateful for the discussions that come from it. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Lee Jung-jae's answers were translated from Korean.

Tom Power: You're the first Asian actor to win an Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Squid Game becomes the first TV series not in English to win a major Primetime Emmy Award. It's a major historical event. 

Initially we were very surprised that non-English speaking content and Asian content was accepted very well and resonated with the audience all around the world. The director is very happy with the fact that Squid Game did very well globally, but as an actor I'm also happy to be part of it and I'm dumbfounded how successful this was. 

Tell me about winning the Emmy. What does that moment mean to you?

I received that question a lot as an Asian male actor — "How did it feel to win the Emmy?" One of the reasons why I'm very glad is that now Asian-created content can resonate with a global audience. I'm also very happy that we live in a time where we can communicate with people all around the world. Now that we're in a time where stories resonate globally, we can enjoy content together and discussions together, and as a content creator, I will continue to thoughtfully create so more of us can enjoy it together.

When your name gets called, what goes through your head?

It's indescribable. There are lots of mixed emotions running through my mind. When they first announced my name, for a second I thought, "Is that actually my name?" Then I actually realized that because the people who are sitting at the same table with me, they started cheering and they were pointing at me, so that's when I understood that I got it and I stood up.

There are several versions of acceptance speeches that I was thinking about while I was sitting there, but it was just so sudden that when I actually got there that I think I forgot maybe a few people. So I was a little disappointed about that.

Well, let's talk a little bit about Hunt. It's your directorial debut, and you also wrote the script and act in it. Why was this a movie you wanted to make?

It was difficult to find a screenwriter, as well as a director. I initially wanted to just be involved with the production side, but the story deals with modern Korean history, politics, the story about the North and the South. It's somewhat a sensitive subject, so I started writing my own script.

How does it being a sensitive subject make it harder to find someone to work on it with? Or is it that you want to make sure it's told right?

I think both. It's hard to sort of express within the film, I thought, so it has to be viewed from an objective perspective. It has to be worked with a cool-headed mind, and I thought I'm probably in the objective situation that will be able to tell the story.

The film is fictional, but it's set during a real time in history when South Korea was under a military dictatorship in the 1980s. Talk to me a little bit about that time period and why you wanted to focus on that time period for Hunt.

At first I actually thought about changing the 1980s background to the modern time, but as I was thinking about the theme of the film I thought, the reason why people are in conflict with each other is because people don't understand each other and they believe that only their own beliefs are important. 

The 1980s in Korea was the worst time where the government was spreading fabricated information to the public, but when I watch social or political news these days, or news on social media like YouTube, I also see a lot of fake news spreading quickly. So it's also a big problem of our time. Then I thought, perhaps the fake news stories being created these days and the ones that were fabricated by the government in the 80s were closely related, so I decided to stay with the 1980s background.

Nowadays you watch this fake news and believe it to be true, and your values and your view of the world can be contaminated. When people talk to each other about politics and other things, they use the information that they believe to be true, and end up in conflict with each other or take the opposite stance. I felt like we should be more cautious about fake news, and check one more time whether what you believe is true or not.

Did you speak to anybody who was politically active during that era? And if so, would you have learned anything about that era politically in Korea that would have surprised you? 

Of course, to make this movie I interviewed a lot of people who were politically involved back in the day, but also someone who actually worked at the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. Things have changed now, and Korea is a much healthier society. Many terrible events that happened at the time have been mostly revealed, so there's probably no shocking truth that the current Korean citizens are unaware of. We probably know about everything now.

I heard that when you showed Hunt at Cannes earlier this year, you received some feedback that global audiences needed help following the story because they aren't as familiar with Korean history and politics. 

I realized at the Cannes festival that I tried to make the global audience understand the story, but it was difficult to kind of convey the message in detail with this sensitive subject matter.

I started revising on a plane way back from the Cannes festival, and I had to think about what are some of the elements that the global audience does not need to know. So, little details from the 1980s, or some of the circumstances have been eliminated from the script.

Also within the subtitles are some Korean names or organization names that are sort of hard for the global audience to read or follow through. We had to revise that, and there are also some words that only Koreans understand, so I had to fix those as well.

I think we can't really divide the Korean audience or the global audience anymore. It's the same story, and the theme that will resonate to all the audience as a whole, so we can't just say this is only for the Korean audience. When we aim for the Korean audience, that is actually for the global audience as well.

In addition to all this physicality, you're also running the show? How do you do it?

I think physically, it was exhausting. Being a director and an actor, as well, that was also hard. Just being in an action movie, that's even harder. So I limited drinking and also tried to rest as much as possible when I had time, and tried to eat whatever is supposed to be healthy and make me stronger.

What's a movie or a work from your past that you recommend to fans who would only know you from Hunt or Squid Game? 

It's embarrassing, but it would be my very first feature film called The Young Man. That was the beginning of my acting career, so I was inexperienced. Personally, I think my performance was rather embarrassing, but I can give you the gift of laughter because I was really terrible!

You're also the CEO of Artist Company, which is an entertainment and talent agency that you started. What advice do you give the younger actors that you work with?

I share many different stories, but what I share the most, and think is most important, is that you really need to show your sense of responsibility to the people you work with.

Yes, you need to care about your work. Do your best preparing for your role, consider other people, and have pride in the work you are collaborating with everyone. You should also display your professionalism. These are some of the things I talk about quite often.