Squid Game” star “couldn’t eat” on “Acolyte” set, talks “big handicap

Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae found himself tongue-tied—and tongue-tired—after being cast as the lead role in the new Star Wars series The Acolyte on Disney+.

Speaking to Newsweek on Tuesday from Seoul, the South Korean capital, the veteran Korean actor spoke about the challenges of acting in English for the first time, playing Jedi Master Sol in his first Hollywood project Star Wars: The Acolyte, which left him unable to eat at one point.

“Practicing the English lines all day all the time, my tongue kept touching the inner part of my teeth and became worn down and I couldn’t eat. Obviously, the way the tongue moves when speaking English is very different from the way it moves when speaking Korean, so my tongue kept rubbing up against my teeth,” the Screen Actors Guild/Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee recalled.

Acting in English was not an easy task but that was expected, the Squid Game actor said, “with so much to note, from the pronunciation and accent to getting use to the spaces between words when reading the lines, all of which was challenging.

“I had two dialogue coaches who were very rigorous with their teaching and played a huge role in helping me perfect my lines,” he added.

Though established for decades as a veteran movie star in South Korea, Lee shot to international flame following his breakout Squid Game role as Seong Gi-hun, which he will be reprising in the highly anticipated second season later this year. Lee is currently still shooting the second season, he noted.

His Squid Game stardom put him on the radar of Leslye Headland, the creator of The Acolyte, who cast him as Sol.

The new series, set at the end of the High Republic era before the events in the main Star Wars films, unravels “an investigation into a shocking crime spree” that pits Sol against “a dangerous warrior from his past,” played by Amandla Stenberg (from The Hunger Games), according to the show’s Disney+ synopsis.

Before Headland got in touch with Lee, he knew of the director as a fan of Russian Doll, the Netflix series co-created by Headland, which he really enjoyed watching. So when he’d heard she was doing a new Star War series, he was very intrigued and thought “we could possibly see a very different Stars Wars through her lens.”

When she later sent him a basic treatment of the script, it only gave an overview of the storyline and she wasn’t able to reveal exactly what role he’d be playing at that stage.

Lee noted: “At first, I didn’t think my character would be such a big role. I assumed I’d be given some suitable smaller role that was sufficient for an actor who gained some fame from Squid Game. So, I never anticipated it would be the big role that it is and didn’t think I’d be left to take on the role of Jedi Master Sol.

“As English is not my first language, which could be a big handicap for me in terms of acting, I’m still bewildered that I was entrusted with such a huge role. I really wanted to repay her [Headland] for the belief she showed in me and I really tried my best to match up to the vision she had for this script,” he said.

Asked about the burden of his Hollywood debut being his first lead role in a major franchise and whether he’d thought of turning the role down due to the pressure, smiling sheepishly Lee said: “To be honest, I did feel a slight sense of doing that [turning down the role].”

Having received the script after he’d agreed to take on a Jedi role, Lee realized just how big of a role his character was upon reading the script. “I felt this great burden about how I’m meant to act out this huge character. My mind became quite complicated and all I could think about was that I better get started on preparing for the role. But thought even if I do prepare as much as I can, could I really pull this off? It’s such an important role and my hair turned white [from thinking about the task at hand],” he said.

Star Wars Inspirations and Jedi Master Sol’s Greatest Strength

Lee, who has been a fan of the Star Wars films, said he rewatched all the movies from the series in preparation for his role, “meticulously” observing all the Jedi characters to understand why the actors may have played them in the ways they did and to ascertain how his character Sol should be shaped.

Among the Jedis, Lee took a particular interest in the Qui-Gon Jinn character played by Liam Neeson, who he thought was most relevant to Sol. “I thought it’d be good to dissect his character and I tried to take a lot of inspiration from Neeson’s role,” he said.

The latest series carries a duality theme among various characters. So, what is Sol’s greatest strength and weakness? “There are a lot of scenes where he can show his warmth, so I think his ability to portray a bit more warmth than perhaps other Jedis is his strength. On the flip side, I wanted to also show a more human side of him too, but it was challenging to know to what degree this humanness would be appropriate to reveal for a Jedi.”

Lee’s other great challenge was getting his first scene just right. “I felt I needed to be convincing as a Jedi from the first shot that the audience hears and sees of me” to plant a seed of confidence in them to say he looks and feels like a Jedi, he noted. The final scene of the series was quite “emotional” for him, having spent all the time I did with the Sol character,” Lee said, without revealing any details of the final scene.

Asked about how his character will further unfold in the series, the Korean actor said “being a mystery thriller genre, the story has a lot of twists and upturns and you’ll find there will be more questions that come up with each episode. I think that aspect made it a very interesting script…the audience will be left increasingly intrigued with each new episode.”

What To Expect in Squid Game Season 2

One of Lee’s most highly anticipated projects this year is, of course, the second season of Squid Game, the storyline for which is “a lot more interesting than season one,” Lee noted. “There will be a lot more dramatic characters coming out of it the first season, so I think people will enjoy it even more than season one.”

Asked whether his returning Squid Game character Gi-hun will ultimately get his revenge, Lee said: “The change you see in Gi-hun is also among the points that will be worth the watch in Season 2.”

Asked when we can expect to see Squid Game Season 2 this year, Lee noted “we still have a bit more to shoot and also have to work harder on the post-production work too. But you’ll get to see it soon.”

Hollywood Dreams and Tackling Another Franchise

Having received a string of actor accolades and even a seven-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival for his directorial debut film Hunt back in 2022, has the reality of his Hollywood debut set in for the Squid Game star?

“It hasn’t really, as it’s [Hollywood] not a space that I really work in. Being the global mecca for the entertainment business, I’d always thought it would be great to work in Hollywood. But I never thought I’d be doing a Star Wars project and take on a Jedi role, but it’s such an honor of course,” he noted.

Lee previously told Newsweek that he’d love to work with director Todd Phillips and actor Joaquin Phoenix one day. Has he had any communication from these Hollywood names or offered other roles in Hollywood since his recent debut? Laughing humbly, Lee replied: “No, I haven’t had any offers. But I think people are currently just observing how I act in English through the Star Wars series. So, until all eight episodes air, I’m not sure what sort of response it will have or what other projects might come to me.

“Given how I had no idea I’d be doing Star Wars, it feels almost meaningless to even dream about who I’d like to work with in Hollywood at this stage. I can only hope that there will be a fate-like project for me out there,” he noted.

Asked whether he’d do another Hollywood franchise, he said “I don’t know what may come my way, of course. But if a good opportunity comes up, I’ll have to do it—even if my tongue falls out [from practicing all the English lines].”

New episodes of Star Wars: The Acolyte are released weekly on Disney+ on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT., with the final episode airing on July 16.