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| ▲ Actor Lee Je-hoon speaks during a press conference for the upcoming film "Soju War," held at Megabox COEX in Seoul on April 24, 2025. (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- Actor Lee Je-hoon revealed that veteran actor Yoo Hae-jin played a pivotal role in shaping his dream of becoming an actor.
"To me, Yoo Hae-jin's life itself is like a movie. Watching him inspired me to pursue acting," Lee said during a press conference for the upcoming film Soju War, held at Megabox COEX in Seoul on Thursday.
Lee shared that he decided to join the film as soon as he heard that Yoo Hae-jin had been cast. "It’s not every day that you get a chance to work with someone like Yoo Hae-jin. I was thrilled," he said. "There are scenes where our characters clash and others where they build a friendship. Filming those moments felt both surreal and fascinating."
Yoo responded with praise, saying, "There’s a bromance between us in the film, and I’m curious to see how it comes across on screen. Je-hoon did a phenomenal job."
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| ▲ Actor Yoo Hae-jin speaks during a press conference for the upcoming film "Soju War," held at Megabox COEX in Seoul on April 24, 2025. (Yonhap) |
Set during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Soju War follows the story of Jong-rok (played by Yoo Hae-jin), the finance director of a soju company, and In-beom (played by Lee Je-hoon), a global investment firm employee. The two face off over the fate of Korea's iconic liquor brand, with Jong-rok unaware that In-beom is targeting the company for acquisition, and slowly coming to trust him.
Yoo described his character as "an ordinary office worker on the outside, but strong on the inside," adding with a chuckle, "Maybe because it's a movie about alcohol, the script went down smoothly."
Lee described In-beom as someone driven by materialism and performance, with a motto of "Work is work, life is life." He noted, “Though the film is set in 1997, I feel like not much has changed even in 2025. I hope audiences reflect on their values while watching it.”
Lee recently starred in JTBC’s drama The Art of Negotiation as Juno, a legendary M&A specialist. He acknowledged similarities between the two roles but added, "In-beom is more impulsive and emotionally expressive. He’s someone who feels very human."
Notably, the press conference was held without the film's director, Choi Yoon-jin, who was dismissed from the project. The production has been marred by controversy stemming from a dispute between Choi and production company The Lamp.
The Lamp claimed that Choi plagiarized the screenplay from the original writer and terminated the directing contract. While Choi completed filming and the first edit, she is credited only as “on-site director” in the final cut. The film’s title was also changed from Moral Hazard to Soju War.
Choi, on the other hand, insists she co-wrote the screenplay with screenwriter Park Hyun-woo and that the disagreement was merely over the order of credit placement. She has filed a legal injunction to suspend the termination of her directorial contract and is awaiting a court decision.
Soju War is set to open in theaters on June 3.
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