IU Dishes On Her Candor, Upcoming Drama By "Fight My Way" Writer, And More

Feb 24, 2023

IU has showcased her various charms through a pictorial with Harper’s Bazaar magazine!

In an interview that followed the photo shoot, IU spoke frankly about herself as singer IU and as actress Lee Ji Eun (IU’s real name). When asked if she has any compulsion to show only her perfect appearance as a celebrity, IU replied, “When I was young, I really didn’t know anything. (Laughs) I was the type of person who had to say [what’s on my mind], so I had no choice but to say, ‘This is what I think right now,’ or, ‘I’m at that age now.’ On the one hand, since I was young, I had a perception that I wasn’t a perfect person. [Being a perfect person] is not something you can imitate. As long as I chose this job as a career, I had to give it a shot, and I intentionally tried to make no bones about showing myself to some extent. What started out like that has now become one of the ways of expressing myself.”

IU’s next project with Park Bo Gum and “Fight for My Way” writer Im Sang Choon will soon kick off pre-production. “You Have Done Well” (literal title) will mark IU’s first drama comeback in four years since “Hotel Del Luna.” When asked why she chose this drama, IU shared, “I think everyone will think this way once the drama is released: ‘Ah, even I might have wanted to take it on myself.’ I enjoyed watching writer Im Sang Choon’s previous projects, and [this drama] felt novel to me because it has its own unique story. As a person who likes to read and write, I was envious of the writer’s talent that she could make people feel this kind of emotion though just prints. The subject matter itself is good, but I especially liked the fact that [the drama] conveys a weighty story without being heavy.”

In “You Have Done Well,” IU will take on the role of Ae Soon, who is rebellious but gets nervous every time she rebels and who isn’t well off but is always shining and full of positivity. It is noteworthy that this character has the opposite personality from her previous role of Jang Man Wol in “Hotel Del Luna.” Regarding this, IU expressed, “Man Wol in ‘Hotel Del Luna’ is definitely an unusual character. However, Ae Soon also has a unique point. Ae Soon seems like a person you can easily find around you, but if you look more closely, she is a person whose individuality as a human stands out. I seem to be attracted to that type of person.”

When asked how similar she thinks she is with Ae Soon, IU answered, “Ae Soon resembles me more than any other character I have ever portrayed. The writer has great observation skills. She said that she wanted to incorporate the characteristics that I have that are not too obvious into the character. It was to the extent that I said, ‘Oh my, how did you know that I have this kind of side to me?’ after reading the script.”