Lee Jun-ki as Gong Gil in The King and The Clown
The King and The Clown is a historical drama from 2005, and the third movie with Lee Joon-ki as the lead character. This movie was adapted from the phenomenal stage play Yi in 2000, about a Joseon dynasty king and a court clown who mocks him. The movie was released on December 29, 2005, and runs for 119 minutes. The movie is about two male street clowns, Jansaeng (starred by Kam Woo-sung) and Gong-gil (starred by Lee Joon-ki), who are part of an entertainer troupe during the reign of King Yeonsan. The effeminate and beautiful Gong-gil, who played the woman character in his show, was prostituted by his manager to rich costumers. When he killed his manager, he and Jansaeng run away to Seoul and become street performers by mocking the king. They were caught and given the chance to entertain the king, or be put to death. The performance is successful until the king falls in love with Gong-gil, but it is the start of the bloody story after then. Joon-ki’s character was an epic one at the time. He was said to be the first one to bring the ‘flower boy’ trend to South Korea because of his role. Lee Joon-ki said it was hard to be cast in the movie and, after he got it, he played the role seriously as he kept the effeminate role going behind the scenes to keep his focus on his character. From his hard work in his role, he won nine of the eleven nominations he received in big awards shows.
Lee Jun-ki as Yong Yi in Iljimae: The Phantom Thief
After the role in The King and The Clown, Lee Jun-ki played a more manly role in SBS’s drama Iljimae: The Phantom Thief. The drama aired from May 21 until July 24, 2008. The story is about a man named Yong who witnessed his father’s death when he was young and wanted to take revenge on the murderer, who had a black emblem on his sword. Yong is adopted by a thief after the incident, who also teaches Yong to be a thief and to fight. Yong then become a thief by robbing a rich house and giving the money to the, like Robbin Hood, and also looking for clues that might lead him to his father’s murderer. Because of his performance, Lee Jun-ki was nominated as the Hot Male Drama Star in the 2nd Mnet 20’s Choice Awards and Best Actor (Television) in 45th Baeksang Arts Awards. He also won the Top Excellence Award, Netizen Popularity Award, and Top 10 Starts in the 16th SBS Awards.
Lee Jun-ki as Kim Eun-oh in Arang and the Magistrate
If the last two pieces were filled with drama and action, this time Lee Jun-ki played in a horror-romance historical drama titled Arang and The Magistrate in 2012. Lee Jun-ki starred as Kim Eun-oh, a nobleman who has the special gift of being able to see, hear, and touch ghosts, but he pretends to be a normal person as it can be annoying if the ghosts ask him to do a favor. Kim Eun-oh comes to Miryang in order to search for his mother, who is rumored to be living there. He then meet a ghost named Arang (played by Shin Min-ah), who lost her memories and couldn’t rest in peace until she found how she died. Kim Eun-oh decided to help Arang after he saw a distinctive hairpin on her, which he gave to his mother at their last meeting. He hopes that as Arang’s memory is recovered, she can help him to find his mom, but their investigation becomes a disaster. In this drama, Lee Jun-ki sang one of the soundtracks, titled One Day. As usual, he won the award for Outstanding Korean Actor in the 8th Seoul International Drama Awards and Best Couple Awards with Shin Min-ah in the 34th MBC Drama Awards.
