Jang Geun-suk, “After 5 years, I felt that the work ‘Bait’ was ‘alive’”

Jang Geun-suk expressed his thoughts on his comeback after 5 years with his new work ‘Bait’.

On the 25th, a press conference for the Coupang Play series 'Bait' was held at Megabox COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul. Director Kim Hong-seon and actors Jang Geun-suk, Heo Seong-tae, and Lee Elijah attended.

Jang Geun-suk plays the role of Goo Do-han, a homicide detective. Heo Seong-tae played the role of Noh Sang-cheon, the worst fraud criminal. Elijah Lee played Na-yeon Cheon, a reporter and family member of the victim of the 'Noh Sang-cheon fraud case'.

Jang Geun-suk said, “It’s been a long time since I made a comeback, so I was worried about what kind of image I could show. I thought it would be a good idea to break away from the typical image I have had so far. “I grew a beard and exercised a lot of restraint to express a rough man,” he said. Also, “I thought it would be awkward if I forced myself to look like myself, so I thought about how I could make it look natural even during the production stage. “To be more honest from an actor’s perspective, I had a desire to destroy myself,” he confessed.

Jang Geun-suk, who took a break for a while, said, “Including military service, five years have passed. The wait was not in vain, and the script I cherished was ‘bait’. I also charged it for 5 years. I never took a break during my career, and I think I lived the life I wanted to live. In the meantime, I read a lot of scripts and learned what I wanted to learn. “It’s been five years since then,” he said. He continued, “I tried to do well on site. “I felt like I was alive,” he said.

Jang Geun-suk said, “I wanted to experience catharsis like when I did a movie called ‘Itaewon Murder Case’ in the past, I heard people say things like, ‘That guy knows how to act like that.’” He also confessed, “I was greedy in wanting to destroy the obvious Jang Geun-suk and select a new me. I think that was the goal for which I spent five years of waiting and suffering.”

'Bait' is a crime thriller that traces the secrets surrounding the culprit of the biggest fraud in history as he is identified as a suspect in a murder case eight years after his death. Starting on the 27th, it will be released twice every Friday through Coupang Play.

Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr