Robert Kojder chats with No Other Choice star Lee Byung-hun…
Having quite a hell of a year between voiceover work in the red-hot popular animated spectacle K-Pop Demon Hunters to delivering a rich performance of hypocrisies and insecurities told through a brilliant lending of violence and dark humor in Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice, Lee Byung-hun arguably deserves more attention than he is getting not just specifically in the space of awards conversations but in the general film world.
While a celebrated star in South Korea, he has also popped up in Hollywood blockbusters from time to time, but one could say he has never had a role quite like this across either country. There is one close in similarity that I did bring up to him in conversation, but for the most part, this is a career-defining role in one of 2025’s greatest and most topical pieces of art. What else is new for Park Chan-wook, one of our most talented and all-around greatest working filmmakers today.
Lee Byung-hun was available for brief virtual interviews during awards season. And by brief, I mean only 5 minutes, with half of that time going to a translator relaying his carefully worded, well-thought-out, in-depth answers in English. Nevertheless, it was still a gracious opportunity. Please enjoy the short interview below…
I’ve loved your work since I Saw the Devil, which, interestingly enough, feels cut from the same plot of a Park film.
I agree, but there’s something very different about the two films. I Saw The Devil is really a story of vengeance, and the audience is one with the main character, wanting the antagonist eliminated, sharing that sense of vengeance throughout the film. However, in No Other Choice, we see Man-su eliminating people with whom we have nothing to do. However, we sympathize with them. And because of that, we, as the audience, are sometimes not with the main character and have a more objective point of view.
Your character here is full of compelling contradictions. There are moments of hypocrisy, and he has insecurities about not working and his relationship with his wife. What was rewarding for you about digging into such a complex character?
Man-su is, or this story is very similar to the way that many people live, and I think life and emotions are not just simple and one note. It’s rather complex. And because of that, I found the story very rooted in reality. You might, as an audience member, think, “Oh, is this a comedy, a thriller, or a drama?” I think it really is a mix of these genres, and in this character, he is protecting his family at all costs. And he is really desperate in his attempts to do that. I really focused on the emotionality of that motive. And of course, there are funny and sad moments, but they’re all built into the script. So I was trying to reflect that to the best of my ability.
Thank you so much for your time. You gave one of the best performances of the year.
Thank you very much.
Many thanks to Lee Byung-hun for taking the time for this interview. Read our review of No Other Choice here.
