IU does not use her real name Lee Ji-eun during her acting career

Singer and actress IU (Lee Ji-eun) announced that she has decided to unify her stage name as IU.

On the morning of the 30th, a production briefing session for the movie 'Dream' (directed by Lee Byung-hun) was held at Megabox Seongsu in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, and actors Park Seo-joon, IU, Kim Jong-su, Go Chang-seok, Jeong Seung-gil, Lee Hyun-woo, Yang Hyun-min, Hong Wan-pyo, and Heo Jun-seok as well as director Lee Byung-hun attended. When asked about her stage name, IU said, "When I was working as an actress, I listed it as Lee Ji-eun in the credits, but everyone called me IU anyway."

He continued, "I am also actively working as a singer. For example, if I come out as IU in March and then come out as Lee Ji-eun in May, it might be confusing. So, I decided to make it all IU. Unify both the actress name and the singer name as IU." “I did it,” he said.

Meanwhile, IU and Park Seo-joon recalled the moment they first met 'Dream', which had already finished filming three years ago.

Park Seo-joon said, "After finishing the drama 'Itaewon Class', I started filming 'Dream'. There were many twists and turns before I met the audience," and "I have new emotions when I see myself from three years ago. I am excited to meet the audience at the theater for the first time in a long time. “I’m worried. I have mixed emotions,” he said.
IU said, "I filmed dramas focusing on roles with a lot of story, but when I thought I wanted to play a role without a story, I received an offer for 'Dream'," and added, "I took part with a happy heart."

They both agreed that they had high expectations for working with each other. Park Seo-joon said, "I've always been a fan of IU," and "I had high expectations of working together, and I was curious about what it would be like on set. When it comes to relationships in the play, the role involves a lot of bickering and tiki-taka. There were more scenes as filming was coming to an end. “I thought it would be nice if they were there. It was nice to see them, it was fun, and it was disappointing,” he said, drawing attention.

IU also shared her thoughts on working with Park Seo-joon. He praised, "Every time the director made an unexpected request, I was so impressed and envious as I watched Park Seo-joon flexibly accept it and make it his own. I received a lot of good stimulation while watching the acting right in front of me."

'Dream', which became a hot topic due to the meeting between Park Seo-joon and IU, is the story of Hong Dae (played by Park Seo-joon), a former soccer player with no concept, and So-min (played by IU), a passionless producer, who challenge an impossible dream with a ragtag group of homeless national team players. It is an adaptation of the true story of the 2010 Homeless World Cup, in which Korea participated for the first time.

‘Dream’ will be released on April 26th.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr