Lee Seung Gi Channels the Mischievous and Serious Sides of the Monkey King for Hwayugi Script Reading

I was a teeny bit apprehensive about the inspiration of upcoming K-drama Hwayugi taking from the classic Chinese novel of The Journey to the West, so famous and integral to Chinese cultural and now being adapted to a Korean setup. But with the casting of Lee Seung Gi as the male lead playing the Monkey King character, and moving the drama time frame to the modern times, I’m relieved that most of the apprehension around appropriation has dissipated. Especially with how perfect seeming Lee Seung Gi as the male lead, not so text book handsome yet oozing with charm, the Monkey King as a modern male lead with attitude as seen here in the drama script reading stills. Be still my heart, lol, I’m fairly certain this Monkey King will be equal parts boyish dork and sexy troublemaker.

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Comments

Lee Seung Gi Channels the Mischievous and Serious Sides of the Monkey King for Hwayugi Script Reading — 33 Comments

    • Yet he have won many excellence awards in acting and his dramas never drop in a single digit.
      Is that overated to you??! Lol have u seen him act in the king 2 hearts!? I bet you don’t because you prefer those boring and bland flower boys who can’t even act. Lol

      • lol i know he is a singer 1 of his song is my fav and have it downloaded in my pon and for ur info as of the moment my fav is more popular than him(my opinion), variety shows did help him a lot 2d1n season 1 was so popular, and koala’s pick of actors she like is the standard of good actors now, didnt know that, i didnt say he is a bad actor,read my comment again,

    • ahh but king to hearts rating went downhill starting in epi3 though, he is like in korea coz no scandal, and he is known coz he does variety shows, where u can see them all the time,thats familiarity

      • For the record! It was because of the tension of sk-north korea that time.. remember they fired a rocket that time causing an uproar. It really affected the dhow but still it was a double digiy rating with an average rating of 12.5-13%.

      • Wow u clearly don’t know him.. he is known because of variety!?? Wtf!! He is known as a singer.. he even beat many famous idol groups and top 5 artist in korean with number of hit songs.. given that hw is also active in singing and hosting why is it that he still havr many excellence awards in acting and his drama ratings were great compared to the other famouse actors and idol turned actors tell me pls. Cause popularity alone can’t make a good ratings..

        To sum it up!! LOOK ON YHE LIST OF ACTORS KOALA PICKS! LEE SEUNG GI IS ONE OF YHE ACTORS HE LIKE. ?? damn! You’re just jealous because he is popular and good than ur bias.

      • He is popular because he’s “triple crown/threat”; he acts, sings, and does variety shows. Its also one of the reasons why he’s a top endorser because he covered three areas in entertainment and his market goes from ahjummas to ladies to students and to kids.

    • Never understood people who like to leave such comments. I can name a dozen actors who are over actors (imo) but I don’t go round bashing them. Poor Sirey, you must be lonely and need attention badly. My sympathy for you, hope your life gets better!

      • Same guess… changing accounts just to bash Seung Gi. Maybe he/she cannot accept the fact how well-loved and how well-respected he is and how versatile– definely and surely compared to his idols. I dare he names his and see how his taste goes.

  1. I’m a huge fan of his but I don’t understand why we should reply to people who “don’t get his charm” or try to associate his success only on his good image. Okay, they don’t get it, I personally don’t care as long as I -and millions of people- see his appeal. Well, I mostly care about the “I”.

    The script reading made me more excited than the teasers (that already looked promiscing with the good CG and cinematography … hopefully it’s not just the teasers and the whole drama has that high quality). The lines seems hilarious and all the actors are a perfect fit to their characters.

    I hope this delivers. *crossing fingers*

    • Same guess… changing accounts just to bash Seung Gi. Maybe he/she cannot accept the fact how well-loved and how well-respected he is and how versatile– definely and surely compared to his idols. I dare he names his and see how his taste goes.

  2. I look forward to this drama, LSG is always a dose of fresh air for me, he infuses positive energy & he is always very pleasant to watch. Not about his looks but he has certain charm that other flower boys don’t have. For those commenting about his hype, I don’t understand why you even bother reading this article when you clearly are not interested in him ?

  3. I started to like him in Brilliant Legacy. He was not that great in acting at that time (there were times when he excel in emoting and other times a bit overly done) but he sure is very charming and has great screen presence. I already like him in that drama. From then i started to search about him and follow his works. I think it became a full blown love through watching him in 1n2d. Well that is also my one and only favourite kvariety show (the first season only). For his next dramas, i love him in My Girlfriend is Gumiho and The King Two Hearts, the latter is his best acting so far. Dropped Gu Family Book midway and was not interested to watch You’re all surrounded due to no interest in the actress and the drama. Love a lot of his songs, didnt really like his latest ones. So eventhough he is my bias, and i like him very very much, i really hope this drama delivers. Because as much as i like an actor, it doesnt mean i will like all his works. But because i like him, i really wish this will be a great drama, and a great comeback for him.

  4. My two cents.I think he is a great variety star.I liked his MCing in Strong Heart.He is a good ballad singer too.I can understand why people would be attracted to his personality too.Bubbly, extroverted individuals are almost always popular with the masses and that’s particularly true with celebrities.

    Now as an actor, I will have to agree with @Cantwait above me.She/he has said it better than I could.If he can bring the level of acting like in the “King 2 Hearts” to this drama.This drama will be a good refresher for him.In King 2 Hearts he was able to immerse himself in the character and balance the serious bits(emote without going over but still able to convince us what he is feeling) with the funny bits(without letting his real life persona seep through the character). But if he tries to do the acting like in Gu Family Book or My Girlfriend is a Gumiho.Then no, NG.They were an easy breeze to watch dramas sure.But for his growth as an actor, he will have to challenge himself a bit more.

  5. Well I guess, you don’t have any clear idea what an “overactor.” Somehow I got curious what a good actor to you– if you really know how to assess one. Won’t elaborate anymore. Lee Seung Gi’s excellent talents in all areas can speak for it.

    • A good actor to me is someone like :
      Kamiki Ryunosuke, Yuya Yagira, Masaki Suda, Park Bo Gum etc… put Lee Seung Hi next to actors like them he is a Joke !!!

      • Besides Yuya Yagira, none of those you mentioned is major award winning international level actor. PBG’s acting is actually not that much better than LSG, he is just lucky to get nicely written characters that swoon naive fan girls…

      • LOL PARK BOGUM WTF!!!!!!! JAHAHAHAHAHAHA what A fool even a todler knows bogum has many things to do before reaching seung gi’s acting level.

        KING 2 HEARTS OF LEE SEUNG GI ALONE WILL MAKE BOGUM’S ACTING LOOK PALE.

      • @Sirey, i dont think you need to be so harsh with your words. And fellow seunggi fans, must we stoop to Sirey’s level to back up our bias?

        I dont know the other actors but we got to admit Park Bo Gum is a better actor. At least he never has problem with overacting, which Seunggi has the tendency to do.

        However, thats the only thing Park Bo Gum is doing so he better be good at it right? Seunggi is a multi entertainer. Eventhough he is not that excellent in acting YET (he did very well at times and not so good at other times), he is good in so many things. And he has great screen presence. To say his acting is a joke is really harsh. I said it in my previous comment that i started to like him through his acting. And i wont be looking forward to this drama if not because of his acting. so eventhough you think he’s so bad, please have some respect towards those who like him by being a little nicer with your words.

        And theres so much hype about him now because:

        1. He just came out from the army
        2. This is his comeback drama
        3. He has so many fans
        4. And his fans cant wait to see him in drama again
        5. If you ask people about their favourite dramas, you’ll see a lot of seunggi’s drama being mentioned.

  6. I’m long time Seung Gi’s fan but I don’t know what’s the point of this argument. If someone think he’s “overactor” (btw, is it a word?),ignore them, what’s important is what I think, I think he’s good, not like he’s the best, he makes others look like a joke, bla bla bla. With me, he’s good actor and is improving everyday, he works 200% and more with whatever you throw at him. I choose to spend my time support him and his projects rather than trolling, or bashing others who I don’t like or leaving unnecessary comments. Be nice, guys, constructive comments are welcome but leaving comments to create fan wars is just pure pathetic.

  7. An actor usually overacts on roles that are outlandish, usually. I feel that Lee Seung Gi played the perfect Monkey God, he made that role his own. He was awesome in King to Hearts.

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