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"Prison Playbook" Lee Kyu-hyung Talks About His Role and Drug Awareness

"A drug addict may seem cute, but using the drug can't be glorified. It was a good ending".

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Actor Lee Kyu-hyung played the character 'Hae-rong' Yoo Han-yang in the tvN drama "Prison Playbook". Han-yang was arrested for abusing drugs as soon as he was released from prison and the actor claims it was shocking for him, too.

"I knew Han-yang was getting out at one point and doing drugs again, but I didn't know the process then, so all I could do was speculate. I thought 'I guess he's going to wait until Ji-won is out of prison and he's going to do drugs again in America'. I made up a story in my head. However, he just put his hands on drugs right away. It was a good lesson on the awareness of drugs".

Hae-rong was a favorite character throughout "Prison Playbook". He was rude, but cute enough to be adorable and his trademark was his pouty face.

Lee Kyu-hyung said, "I played four characters in a theater play once, and one of them was drunk all the time and causing trouble. The director saw that and thought that could be Hae-rong with a slight change.

After the casting, he used his experience as a government policeman to do some studying on narcotics and learned that heroine users have certain tics.

"When I meet my friends or practice the musical I'm working on, I make Hae-rong's face without realizing it and everyone around me laughs".

Han-yang is also a gay character.

"This is a sensitive matter and it was easy to use as subject matter on TV, so I worked hard on portraying it as possible. Hae-rong is in charge of the atmosphere in Room 6, but if I botched the part about being gay, it could have changed the effect of Ha-rong's cute behavior".

Hae-rong's specialty is making perfect balance with anyone.

Lee Kyu-hyung said, "I had many people to work with including the Moonrae-dong Kaist, Park Ho-san, and there were many opportunities for us to give and take ad-libs. I didn't mind as long as the viewers were enjoying themselves".

Lee Kyu-hyung debuted in 2001 with a movie. He then starred in many plays and musicals and then dramas "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" and "Secret Forest". The characters he played in "Secret Forest" and "Prison Playbook" were quite different.

"Yoon was the criminal in "Secret Forest" and it was a tremendous spoiler, so I had to hide it until the end. However, in "Prison Playbook" I just went straight at it. I believed in director Sin Won-ho, so I did as he asked me to and I knew this drama was going to be well-made. In the end, the viewer rating helped us, too".

He was attracted to acting when he saw Han Suk-kyu in the movie "Shiri". "I've watched Choi Min-sik, Han Suk-kyu, Seol Gyung-koo, and others growing up. I've seen them polish and shine in theater and plays and then move onto movies and dramas, so that's exactly what I'm doing. I want to be in more dramas now".

He claims he's met a lot of good people through dramas.

"I was stabbed by Gong Yoo in "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" last year. Then I met Cho Seung-woo and Bae Doona in "Secret Forest" and they gave me a lot of support. Doona is a mad fan of "Prison Playbook"".

Lee Kyu-hyung says he loves his job even more when people say his acting blows away their stress.

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