The YouTube channel of King Kong by Starship, the South Korean entertainment agency that represents actors like Kim Bum and Lee Dong Wook, has uploaded a new video of Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 star Kim Bum now that the drama has ended its 12-episode run.
In it, Kim Bum talks about what playing Lee Rang in both Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 and its prequel Tale of the Nine-Tailed has meant to him over the last three years.
A role, by the way, that he plays superbly in both series, but especially in Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 where even more of the history of Lee Rang is explored to show just why he ended up as the type of person that he did.
Kim Bum understood that Lee Rang was lonely and sad
In the just-over-3-minute video the 33-year-old Kim Bum, who by the way was the first actor to sign with King Kong by Starship when the agency was founded in 2009, talks about what it was like working on Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 over the eight months it took to complete the drama.
Clutching a celebratory balloon of a red fox, and with fake blood from the drama’s final scenes still on his face, Kim Bum starts out by saying how blessed he feels to have been able to work on Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938.
I am the one who loves this drama more than anybody else.
He goes on to say that the three years he worked on Tale of the Nine-Tailed was a lot of fun, and made him very happy.
But it is when he reminisces about reading the first script for Tale of the Nine-Tailed, and being introduced to the character of Lee Rang for the first time, that what Kim Bum has to say is the most touching.
At the time he says he could “feel Lee Rang’s loneliness” and so he “just wanted to be his friend”.
And it is Kim Bum’s ability to understand Lee Rang’s loneliness and sadness, and to be able to portray that so touchingly on screen, that is much of the reason so many fans stress he is their favorite character in the show.
After all, as an actor it would be easy to portray Lee Rang as an obnoxious, one-dimensional character with unclear motives.
A stereotypical villain, and so a quite a dull character the audience would immediately hate.
Kim Bum, however, made it clear from his very first scene that, while Lee Rang may often be the world’s biggest asshole, most of that assholery comes from being abandoned by everyone he has ever loved, and by feeling as though nobody in the entire world will ever put him first.
Kim Bum portrays those emotions brilliantly throughout both seasons of Tale of the Nine-Tailed, which is why it is almost impossible for the audience to hate Lee Rang.
Even when he does the most terrible of things.
Something his brother Lee Yeon (superbly played by Lee Dong Wook) also understands, and why he so readily forgives him.
Even during the times when Lee Rang is actively trying to kill him.
Kim Bum cries as he talks about Lee Rang giving him “power and strength”
This reminiscing about the character of Lee Rang, however, brings Kim Bum to tears as he confesses the more he got to know the character, the more he feels Lee Rang gave him “power and strength”.
And for that he is thankful to the character, and for the opportunity to play him, as well as thankful that, in Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938, Lee Rang finally gets his happy ending.
Watch Kim Bum talk about playing Lee Rang in Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 and its prequel below.
The drama itself is easily one of the best of 2023, and is currently the #1 Korean drama for fans when it comes to “Yes, we want another season”.
Hopefully, with Kim Bum loving playing Lee Rang as much as he does, if Tale of the Nine-Tailed, Season 3 is announced, he will be ecstatic at the chance to be able to play him again.
That way fans can watch this incredibly talented Korean actor make us love Lee Rang even more than we already do.
Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 is now streaming via Amazon Prime Video.
RELATED: Lee Dong Wook does his own Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 stunts — watch how damned GRACEFUL he is