INTERVIEW Actor sheds golden boy image in 'Whisper'

Actor Lee Sang-yun poses during an interview with The Korea Times, at a cafe in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of J, Wide-Company

By Park Jin-hai

Actor Lee Sang-yun, who portrayed elite judge Lee Dong-joon in the recently ended SBS legal thriller “Whisper,” said he feels relief.

“I have taken serious roles in my latest two dramas, without resting in between. Whisper was a particular challenge, because for each scene I had to consume all my mental energy. I felt I was engaged in a war of nerves,” he said during an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday.

The 35-year-old actor, who is dubbed a golden boy for his real-life elite background and education at Seoul National University, went outside his comfort zone of softer characters and chose to play a weightier role in this latest drama.

“I wanted to take a role which was very different from my previous ones. The whole process of Lee changing to make up for his past mistake was interesting,” he said.

The once principle-abiding judge gets driven into a corner by people around him to make a wrong choice. Eventually he ends up teaming up with a former detective Shin Young-joo, played by actress Lee Bo-young, to fight the law firm giant Taebaek, which is the origin of all corruption.

“Unlike romance dramas I was mostly in, where I just needed to follow the character’s feelings and things happen from there, Whisper has a center story and every individual character’s story converges into it. So I always had to do my part in the bigger picture and in expanding relationships with other characters. It was something I was not used to,” the actor said.

Lee, who debuted in 2007 with “Air City,” said the drama was a great experience and an opportunity to learn lessons in his acting career. “It was constant communication and coordination with other actors and producers.”

The drama was very successful, garnering over a 20 percent viewership, topping the Monday and Tuesday drama ratings, but Lee was not free from criticism.

“I’ve preferred acting in a natural and comfortable style. In the first few episodes, some viewers criticized that I was not in touch with my role. Compared with writer Park Kyung-soo’s previous lead characters, who carried the drama throughout to the end almost singlehandedly and left a strong image, Lee could look weak,” he said. “It was simply a different character, I would say. From the beginning Lee’s hands are tied and he is attacked from everywhere.”

Lee said he feels he has met a turning point in his 10-year acting career. “I think now is the time for me to become deeper and more solid as an actor. But also I feel down and frustrated and think I have a long way to go to become a great actor. I should seek changes for myself this year.”