Lee Min-ho has shared his thoughts on bringing the character Hansu to life in Apple TV+’s upcoming adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s novel, Pachinko.
Pachinko follows the trials and tribulations of Korean immigrants in turn-of-the-century Japan, which unfolds over four generations. It stars Minari actress Youn Yuh-jung as the main protagonist Sunja, whose life intertwines with a man named Hansu.
In a recent interview with Esquire Korea, Lee opened up about playing the character Hansu and how he wanted to reflect “the male image from that era”. “I wanted to be true to the character,” he said. “So I tried to focus on how desperate they were to survive in that period [of time].”
The actor added: “I wanted to express the man who has desperately survived and met the woman he loved. And I really wanted to portray well how one can love one another.”
The Apple TV+ adaptation of Pachinko reportedly involves dialogue in English, Japanese and Korean, and features a star-studded cast of South Korean and Japanese actors, including Jung Eun-chae, Jung Woong-in, Soji Arai and Kaho Minami. A release date for the series has yet to be announced.
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Lee recently made headlines after it was reported that he was dating actress and former Momoland member Yeonwoo. However, his agency MYM Entertainment has since denied the reports in a statement, saying that the pair “are just acquaintances”.
A rep for Yeonwoo also issued a similar statement at the end of last month, adding that both actors share a “close senior-junior relationship”.