This article is by Kim Ji-ye and read by an artificial voice.



Warning: This article may contain spoilers for director Park Chan-wook's latest film "No Other Choice."

For actor Lee Byung-hun, the central focus in playing Man-su, the lead character in Park Chan-wook's latest black comedy "No Other Choice" was to portray how, in his own words, "a very ordinary breadwinner" gradually descends into an irreparable, murderous path by the end.

"I focused on how an ordinary person could end up having such terrifying thoughts," said Lee during a roundtable interview at a cafe in central Seoul on Wednesday. "Those thoughts then lead to real decisions, and one by one, he drags himself through them, feeling as if he might die, yet he still carries them out. I think that's the kind of transformation and the internal process I tried to reflect while working on the role."

An adaptation of U.S. writer Donald E. Westlake's 1997 novel "The Ax," the film follows Man-su, a middle-aged man who is abruptly laid off from his company and resorts to extreme measures in his desperate search for new employment. It features a seasoned cast, with Lee joined by Son Ye-jin, Lee Sung-min, Park Hee-soon and Yeom Hye-ran.

Lee's Man-su carries the film's overall narrative, shifting back and forth between feeling guilt like a morally equipped person would, and then quickly switching into someone who commits cruel acts. One scene that illustrates this mix is when he applies his bonsai hobby skills to a person. Bonsai is the art of growing and shaping miniature trees in a pot.

"That scene shows just how much of an ordinary person Man-su truly is," Lee said. "Although Man-su instantly shot and killed a person, his hesitation and inability to fully control the situation are very much part of his character. The scene where he ends up turning it so beautifully into a bonsai really highlights Director Park's distinctive style."



Like the scene of bonsai applied to a human, Lee described Park's work often leaving an oddly "beautiful afterimage" despite its brutality.

"After watching Park's film, there is a sense of feeling overwhelmed because it's so packed, including some scenes that are extremely brutal or bizarre," he said. "There's a feeling of having seen something one probably shouldn't have, yet by the end, it leaves people thinking about how striking it was and how strangely beautiful the images are that linger in their minds. This peculiar emotion is characteristic of Park's films."

Lee sees that such unique feelings come from the director's careful attention to detail, something Park is widely known for. "It was probably the result of the director carefully calculating the angles while monitoring the shots," he said.

For the past month, the actor has been traveling around the world, meeting various audiences as the film gained international recognition. It was invited to several international film festivals, including competing at the Venice International Film Festival, the International People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and opening this year's Busan International Film Festival.



While the film was designed to make viewers laugh with its satirical humor, he admitted there were moments of laughter he didn't expect, especially from overseas audiences.

"I experienced [audiences unexpectedly laughing] more overseas," said Lee. The actor recently visited Venice and Toronto last month to attend the international film festivals.

"The Venice audience and Toronto audience were very different, but there was one part that made viewers in both countries laugh, which we couldn't fully understand why. It was the scene when Man-su covers his opponent's face before shooting."

Saying that they never intended to make that scene funny, nor meant it as humor, he added that director Park - after thinking about it for a long time - assumed it was Man-su's current state or situation that made the scene unexpectedly humorous to viewers.



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