Actor Lee El has opened up about playing two different personalities of a singular entity, the goddess of birth, in the super hit television drama 'Goblin: The Lonely and Great God;' one of the personalities being an old woman, the other a young lady.
During a recent interview with Korean Ilbo, as quoted by website Allkpop, the 34-year old actor talked about playing a very old woman in the drama. "I was really worried because I had to look very old. The writer, Kim Eun Sook, was worried about me playing the role back in September when we had the initial script rehearsal," she said.
Lee El revealed that she had some apprehension as to whether the difficulties faced while playing an old woman could prevent her from taking a similar role in the future, or in the drama itself. "Putting on makeup to become a grandma was difficult. It made me question, could I do this ever again?" she said.
Though Lee El got to play a young lady in a red dress in episode 2 of the Gong Yoo starrer, after appearing as her elder 'grandma' counterpart in episode 1, she said that there was a lot of challenge; lot of variables that may not have clicked. She says she had to carefully lower her voice to the point that she sounded like an actual old woman. El also said that it was her idea to come up with a slightly hunched walking style for the character when she is old.
The actor said it took five hours to finish the full make-up to transform her from a 34-year old to someone that looks to be in her eighties. Of course prosthetic make-up had to be applied to age her skin through the wrinkles in her face and on her hands and the final result looks quite convincing.
El says that the worries, writer Kim Eun Sook had of her convincingly pulling off the look of an old woman were somewhat mitigated. She told Korean Ilbo "after the first shooting, the writer told me, 'You were really great,' and all the worries I had washed away."
Lee El, who has been a part of many films and television dramas, came to the limelight playing the love interest of actor Lee Byung-hun in the South Korean political thriller 'Inside Men.' She also played a mercenary traitor Oh Jung-A (Jaime) in the realty show-based TV series 'Liar Game.' El recently joined MBC's 'Monster,' playing Ok Chae-ryeong; someone who has a crush on Ji-Hwan Kang's character.
