K-actor Lee Jong Seok has been on a cosplaying streak in his adult acting career, once he finished with playing high school characters. He’s done doctor, lawyer, reporter and now editor/author/publisher for upcoming tvN drama Romance is a Bonus Book. The drama released a set of character stills for him that just looks like Lee Jong Seok dressed all snazzy and being around books. I don’t think he necessarily looks like a literary type and there’s a weird sense of deja vu like I’ve seen him in this look before. There’s a tendency for Lee Jong Seok to look the same in drama to drama until he starts acting and then I get the vibe of different characters.
Character Teasers:
I’d like to see a drama where he plays an ordinary guy. No “genius” anything. That would be a first since he hasn’t played an ordinary role in a kdrama since School 2013. Anyway, when is the dude serving? Isn’t he due for MS?
Just Lee Jong Suk playing a genius for the one millionth time but some consider him a acting god lol
Again genius. He looks better than usual here though
New nose. Seems like you like it. I still can’t get used to it yet, looks weird, but I agree he looks better. I have reservation about this drama, mainly with the pairing. Will wait for reviews first before watching ?
Yes it looks like his nose bridge got new fillers lol. I bet his acting will be the same. It was in Hymn of Death too.
Hymn of Death really lives up to its name…. soooo slow pace… ?
@candycane I agree about Hymn of Death, I don’t think it was Lee Jong Seok or Shin Hye Sun’s fault but the drama felt so….. slow.
Maybe because it was about real-life people so they wanted it to not be disrespectful to their memories, but for a drama where the main romance was an affair, there’s hardly any sense that these two were having one, it was shot so decorously and properly.
One day his nose is going to collapse with all the nose job he gets.
There was a day i used to be excited for his new project..
Lol. Actors have to work hard to look for different genre of projects to avoid the perception of being typecast. Looks like LJS has become typecast, if even the announcement of his new project fails to provide the necessary excitement to the public.
Hymn of death well whoever had the genius idea to write about an adulterous doomed love affair based on a true story must be desperate for attention. It’s not a drama that I would want to spend a minute on let alone an hour knowing how the story was going to end. No sympathy from me!
And it’s a Netflix drama and they couldn’t even make the adulterous relationship passionare and full of sex. What was the point then? Looks like they jumped out of the ship for no reason
Hymn of Death received exceedingly positive reactions in Korea. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen a Korean article about LJS that did not pick him to pieces, but instead was entirely full of high praise. It was just a little one act mini drama, he did it for free, and I don’t think they were expecting such a positive reaction. Of course, a tragedy like that isn’t everyone’s favorite story, but for those who did want to see it and who did not come with preconceived prejudices, most were impressed with his acting.
Romance is a Bonus Book seems to have a completely different feel to it, more focus on the humor. It will be a nice note to leave on (I think that all remaining 89ers have to enlist in 2019).
Most Korean articles and comments under them don’t have people picking him to pieces though. I used to think public’s attitude towards him was always negative as well until I started reading from other translating sites that were not Netizenbuzz, and to my utmost surprise he seems to be actually very well liked and respected in general. Nate rhymes with hate so I don’t consider their comments valid most of the time, and even in the midst of his speech controversies, people in Naver still acknowledged him as a good actor and their criticisms geared more towards disappointment than hatred.
There are a couple of journalists who dislike him to unreasonable degrees, but yes, you are right, they do not represent the public as a whole. After all, he would not be currently tied with Song Joong Ki for topping the highest per-episode salary if he wasn’t popular with many people. The praise for HoD, though, was pretty high. Since he has said many times that he would rather get distinction for acting than for his looks or being some kind of idol, I imagine it felt pretty good to read that.
As someone who aspires to work in the publishing industry someday, I was pretty excited about this drama until they announced the leads. Nothing personal against LJS, but his uncanny valley looks really break the immersion for me.
lmaoo you made me google ‘uncanny valley’ and even as a fan I couldn’t not laugh. Gotta agree since that was my first impression of him years ago, and I used to never think of him as a serious actor exactly due to this until somehow my prejudices gradually faded. Come to think about it his slightly uncanny features helped in making him believable as a manhwa character in W because I totally thought he looked unreal when I watched that drama.