Actor Lee Min-ho Assassins has once again revealed a fresh new side of himself, transforming into Han Young-il, an unyielding and relentless rookie social affairs reporter in the film ‘Assassins’.
Lee Min-ho takes on a leading role in the film ‘Assassins’, which was released on the 23rd, playing Dongsung Ilbo rookie social affairs reporter Han Young-il. ‘Assassins’ is a mystery-tracking drama centered around the First Lady assassination attempt that took place at the Liberation Day celebration on August 15, 1974, tracking the suspicions and masterminds entangled in the incident.
While covering the Liberation Day celebration site, Young-il directly witnesses an unexpected shooting incident. Capturing the scene with his camera and checking the damage situation, he begins to dig into the truth by directly reporting on the incident he saw with his own eyes. Rather than simply delivering given information, his active approach of running through the field to approach the reality of the incident vividly demonstrates the ambition of a rookie reporter who lacks experience but is more enthusiastic than anyone else.
Young-il retraces the situation he witnessed, checking the details of the incident one by one. Discovering doubts between officially known content and facts confirmed with his own eyes, he runs on foot to find answers. Although he is a rookie reporter with not much experience, Young-il’s attitude of digging to the end without easily letting questions pass adds another perspective to viewing the incident, heightening the tension of the play.
Lee Min-ho melted Young-il’s free-spirited and bold personality into his facial expressions, tone of speech, and momentary reactions, bringing out the character’s individuality. In scenes where he throws questions without hesitation, he revealed the fresh yet daring ambition peculiar to a rookie reporter, while expressing Young-il’s confidence with sharper eyes and a firm tone when sharing his judgments.
Especially in scenes with senior reporter Jae-hwan (played by Park Hae-il), he showed Young-il’s diverse aspects through subtle changes in facial expressions and reactions depending on the opponent. He breathed life into the character of Young-il by naturally going back and forth between the relaxedness of playfully letting situations pass and the seriousness of treating the incident.
Lee Min-ho’s Immersive Transformation in Assassins
Above all, rather than pushing forward his existing image, Lee Min-ho focused on naturally blending into the 1974 historical background and the character of Han Young-il. While following the heavy incident, he did not miss Young-il’s characteristic free atmosphere, and at moments of facing the doubts of the incident, he changed his gaze and tone to enhance audience immersion.
As Lee Min-ho viewed Young-il as a ‘lively, fish-like figure’, he added vitality to the character through movements that ran directly through the field and spared no physical effort. He naturally traversed opposing aspects—from a free-spirited personality to the reporter’s characteristic tenacity of digging to the end for facts he personally confirmed—convincingly completing the character of Han Young-il.
Lee Min-ho has established himself as an actor representing K-culture, building a global fandom over a long period. In the ‘2026 Overseas Hallyu Survey’ announced last March by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, he proved his global popularity by topping the category of Korean actors most preferred by Hallyu fans worldwide for the 13th consecutive year.
Global Impact at the Toronto International Film Festival
This time, his global influence was once again confirmed through the Toronto International Film Festival. ‘Assassins’ was officially invited to the 51st Toronto International Film Festival Gala Presentation and held its world premiere. A total of 4,256 seats prepared during the film festival period were sold out for all screenings, and it was selected as the International People’s Choice Award Runner-Up following the world premiere.
The official talk event ‘In Conversation With…’ (ICW) session featuring Lee Min-ho also recorded sold-out seats as soon as advance ticketing began. It was a point where local audiences’ interest not just in the work, but in the actor personally, could be confirmed.
Lee Min-ho has steadily expanded his own acting spectrum by changing genres and characters with each work. In ‘Pachinko’, he played the self-made businessman Hansu, showing a different face from before, and in ‘Ask the Stars’, he presented acting that goes back and forth between seriousness and playfulness through Gong Ryong, an OB-GYN and space tourist.
Following his action and restrained emotional expression as the strong Yoo Jung-hyuk in the film ‘Omniscient Reader’, he has completed yet another character by transforming into rookie reporter Han Young-il in a historical setting for ‘Assassins’. As Lee Min-ho, who has broadened the scope of his acting through different genres and figures, has showcased a new face through delicate expressions tailored to the era and character in this work, attention is focused on his continuing acting path.
