"The Penthouse" star Lee Taevin reveals his character was originally gay and in love with Joo Seokhoon

[Guest]

  

 

Lee Tae Vin has shared a surprising story about his character in “The Penthouse”!

The actor, who plays Lee Gyu Jin (Bong Tae Gyu)’s son Lee Min Hyuk in the smash hit drama, dished on his character and more during his guest appearance on the May 18 episode of MBC every1’s “Video Star.”

Explaining that his character had undergone some drastic changes from the original script, Lee Tae Vin revealed, “Actually, at the beginning, Min Hyuk was originally written to be in love with [Joo] Seok Hoon.”

When the MCs reacted with surprise, he continued, “I’m revealing this for the first time here today. Since Min Hyuk liked Seok Hoon and Seok Hoon liked [Bae] Ro Na, Min Hyuk was supposed to step forward and become even more proactive in bullying Ro Na. But the person Min Hyuk had eyes for was Seok Hoon.”

However, the plotline about Lee Min Hyuk’s one-sided love for Joo Seok Hoon (Kim Young Dae) never made it into the script. “Afterwards, [Min Hyuk] changed into a character who was [Yoo] Jenny’s love interest instead,” explained Lee Tae Vin.

The MCs then asked the actor to spill the tea on Season 3 and the fate of Logan Lee (Park Eun Suk). He jokingly replied, “I actually know the answer. Do you want me to go ahead and spoil it?”

Lee Tae Vin went on to share, “I myself was really shocked when I first got the script. No matter what you’re imagining, [Season 3] surpasses Seasons 1 and 2 by far.”

Lee Tae Vin also revealed that there was one scene in Season 1 that was so hard for him to film, he needed the help of liquid courage to get him through it.

“I didn’t know what to do,” the actor recalled. “The subject matter wasn’t something I’d ever experienced, and it was so cruel. It was the scene where [the kids] lock Min Seol Ah in an abandoned car, wreck the car, and then set fire to it. After I saw the script, my mind went blank. I thought to myself, ‘How can I portray this well?'”

He continued, “Since it was going to be unpleasant no matter what, I thought to myself that I should go all the way in making it unpleasant. I should try to [embrace my character’s mindset and] enjoy it. But once we were actually on set, it was really hard for me to enjoy tormenting her. So after rehearsal, I secretly had a can of beer, and that made it easier for me to film the scene and put my emotions into it. I relied a bit on alcohol for that scene.”

Do you think they should have kept the original plotline about Lee Min Hyuk being jealous of Bae Ro Na? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

[Guest]

myteen are cursed istg we're never getting the good stuff

 

time to write a seokhoon x minhyuk fanfic now

[himi]

damn this could've been a great addition to the storyline 

[starsocks]

it sucks that they got rid of the representation but then again it sounds kind of toxic

[Mccuish]

That would've been great to see how it would've played out

[Ghosty]

i haven't watched the penthouse yet bc i just want to binge and watch all the seasons collectively...... but i am intrigued

taevin i'm glad to see him doing well though. is his acting any good? it shouldn't matter much since the drama is pretty overtop overall, lmao but i'm just curious

[camelliabloom]

Slightly off topic but how does Penthouse have such good ratings on sites like MDL when everyone in the reviews agrees that the plot makes no sense? I've seen netizens say recently that the show jumped the shark at the end of the first season but imo it already jumped the shark by episode 3.

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

taevin i'm glad to see him doing well though. is his acting any good? it shouldn't matter much since the drama is pretty overtop overall, lmao but i'm just curious

he barely has any line tbh but honestly idk if i find him good.. it's probably because of the character, hopefully he gets a bigger role next time

i havent watched kookheons webdrama yet i wonder if hes better than yuvin

Edited May 18, 2021 by galette pur beurre

[himi]

1 hour ago, Ghosty said:

i haven't watched the penthouse yet bc i just want to binge and watch all the seasons collectively...... but i am intrigued

taevin i'm glad to see him doing well though. is his acting any good? it shouldn't matter much since the drama is pretty overtop overall, lmao but i'm just curious

He doesn't have much lines and scenes to really judge. He was barely there in season 1. It got better the second season but there wasn't any rememberable scene. Hope he plays a bigger role in season 3 and seems like he might be after season 2 ending.

Edited May 18, 2021 by himi

[Zack Morris]

Thinking about what could've been 

He literally has no personality or presence or direction within the drama and this would've helped Minhyuk's character greatly.

[Joji.]

This would've actually made his character somewhat interesting and would've given a reason for him going so hard on bullying Ro Na.

Missed opportunity tbh, but I guess Korea isn't ready for that kind of representation in dramas yet.

[A Multifandom Girl]

This would've made so much sense and been a great addition to the plot!

[domination]

Hats off to him. Clearly he got shelved and his character got watered down alot but the actor went on to complete all 3 full seasons with them, all the while seeing his other co-stars rise with the success of Penthouse.

[domination]

On 5/19/2021 at 4:05 AM, camelliabloom said:

Slightly off topic but how does Penthouse have such good ratings on sites like MDL when everyone in the reviews agrees that the plot makes no sense? I've seen netizens say recently that the show jumped the shark at the end of the first season but imo it already jumped the shark by episode 3.

It's ridiculous but that's what Makjang is for. S1 was intriguing and people could look past the ridiculousness, S2 was quite decent but come S3 alot of people lost interest and are watching just to have closure. Quite honestly this is common with those American shows that tend to decrease in quality over seasons.

[Guest]

On 8/25/2021 at 1:00 PM, domination said:

Hats off to him. Clearly he got shelved and his character got watered down alot but the actor went on to complete all 3 full seasons with them, all the while seeing his other co-stars rise with the success of Penthouse.

well he still got popular from it, he has more followers on instagram than his former teammate yuvin who made his acc in like 2015 and was on multiple shows lol. + compared to the actors in penthouse, this is literally his first big roles, he only had 2 small guest roles before that, and one stage play. this is only the beginning of his career (he just got cast for a webdrama with miyeon from gidle!)