Lee Jun Hyuk revealed that he started buying real lottery tickets while filming TVING’s The Ordinary Jackpot – only to walk away with one small win.
In an interview with iMBC Entertainment on October 13th, Lee looked back on the series, in which he plays Gong Eun Tae, an office worker who wins 1.3 billion won in the lottery but keeps showing up to work instead of handing in his resignation.
Lee said he normally does not buy lottery tickets, but started doing so regularly while filming to get into the role.
“I thought, what if I actually win?” he joked. “It would have been so funny if headlines came out saying I won the lottery while filming this drama.”
But that never happened. “I only won 5,000 won (about $4) once,” Lee said. “I really wanted that headline, so it was a shame.”
Following The Ordinary Jackpot, Lee is already moving on to several new projects, including Jang Jae Hyun’s upcoming film Vampir, which has also drawn attention as Yoo Ah In’s return to the screen.
Lee will play a pagan who longs for eternal life, marking another sharp departure from his recent roles.
Asked why he chose the film, Lee said, “It was a challenging project for me. Honestly, whenever I choose something, people often ask me, ‘Why would you do that?'”
He pointed to Seo Dong Jae in the Stranger series, one of his most acclaimed roles, as an example.
“There were plenty of scripts where I could have played more conventionally handsome characters, but I kept choosing roles that weren’t like that, so I heard those comments a lot,” he said. “I think I’ve been able to keep doing this job because I made different choices.”
He added, “Vampir also had something different and challenging about it, and that’s why I chose it. I feel lucky – and sometimes surprised – that I keep getting scripts like this.”
Lee is also set to appear in SBS’ upcoming occult drama Excitatio, which is scheduled to air early next year.
“I went into the occult genre pretty confidently, but then realized it was no easy thing,” he said. “I thought it was rare for SBS to program something this intense, and I approached it thinking, ‘We haven’t had something like this in years.’ So we worked really hard to make it well.”
He added with a laugh, “A priest’s robe is a lot warmer to wear than a suit. I treated that as part of the sacrifice.”
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