Why Lee Jung-jae would stay in the Squid Game contest

Lee Jung-jae in Squid Game, which made the South Korean actor internationally famous. Photo / Netflix

The South Korean actor, who was nominated for his first Emmy Award, discussed the series's surprising global success and his hopes for Season 2.

Most Emmy nominees start their day bright and early with the good news. But as a lamp burned brightly in the background of the video call from his home around 1:30.m in South Korea, Lee Jung-jae had saved the most dramatic part of his day for last.

That's also true of Squid Game, the Korean survival drama that became a global phenomenon when it premiered on Netflix in September. Lee, 49, was nominated for his first Emmy Award for his role as Seong Gi-hun, the gambling addict and protagonist of the candy-coated horror series about a tournament of childhood games played to the death.

His nomination, for best lead actor in a drama, was one of 14 Squid Game picked up Tuesday, when it made history by becoming the first non-English language series to earn an outstanding drama series nomination. (It was Netflix's most watched series ever, according to the streamer.)

The series' surprising success catapulted Lee, who is considered one of the most successful actors in South Korea, to global prominence and earned him Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations. (He won the SAG Award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama.) Lee began his career as a model before starring in a number of hit Korean films, including erotic thriller The Housemaid and gangster drama Deliver Us From Evil. His directorial debut, espionage thriller Hunt, which he is also producing, is slated to be released in South Korea next month.

In an interview conducted with the aid of a translator, Lee discussed the series' surprising success, why he thinks it has resonated worldwide and his hopes for Season 2.

These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Q: Good — very early — morning! How has your life changed since being on basically the biggest show in the world?

A: It's not that my life has dramatically changed, but I'm feeling very excited and happy that Squid Game is receiving so much love and support and that so many more audiences now know who I am.

Q: Did you ever expect it to get this big?

A: No, no, never. The director did mention that he would want the show to get popular in the United States, but we never imagined that it would blow up this big worldwide.

Q: The show is a specific critique of capitalism and inequity in South Korea. Why do you think it has resonated globally?

A: It deals with the issue of this growing global trend of the widening gap between the rich and the poor, and this phenomenon is not unique to Korea; it's something that the international community is going through collectively.

Q: Did you become desensitised to the violence as the series went on, or was it still a shock to be immersed in during every episode?

A: The show is less about the physical violence, but more about the psychological violence where people are trying to deceive each other. The visual violence that appeared from time to time was only used to intensify that conflict. While I was filming, I tried to focus more on that poignant side of the psychological aspect of why people were pitted against each other when they were very close to each other as friends.

Q: Your character chooses to continue with the game to the end, despite knowing that doing so will require abandoning his morals. If you were in his circumstances, would you make the same choice?

A: It takes a lot of courage to step inside that brutal game once again, so I might hesitate for a moment. Then again, when I think about how many people would be sacrificed if that game continues, I think I would make that same choice to go in once again just to stop them.

Q: Netflix recently announced that the show had been renewed for a second season. Do you have any specific hopes for Seong Gi-hun?

A: When I was reading the script for Season 1, there were so many twists in the plot that it was hard to expect where the story was headed. I'm looking forward to something similar for Season 2. I'm dying to know what happens to my character, but I'm trying not to ask the director any questions because it's better not to have any heads-up so I can portray it intensely.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Written by: Sarah Bahr
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