‘East of Eden’ Changed Hoon Lee Forever. And Vice Versa.

Hoon Lee as Lee in East of Eden, in a dark shirt against rolling hills, a white sheet billowing behind him
Hoon Lee as Lee in East of Eden. Image courtesy of Netflix

Over the last two days my partner and I started and finished East of Eden, Zoe Kazan’s adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel, which I haven’t read. It engulfed us from the first episode. I much prefer a limited series to one built to run for seasons: its makers have to be precise, because there is no time to waste.

Hoon Lee as Lee, holding a book, and Ciarán Hinds as Sam Hamilton, in a wide-brimmed hat, standing either side of a horse at a ranch fence at dusk
Hoon Lee as Lee and Ciarán Hinds as Sam Hamilton. Image courtesy of Netflix

Kazan delivered a fantastic piece of work, and Florence Pugh is great as Cathy Ames, but it’s Ciarán Hinds as Sam Hamilton and Hoon Lee as Lee, the Chinese American caretaker of the Trask family, I will remember most. Lee stole the show.

Here he is talking to Esquire about what the book and the show did to him. He hadn’t read the novel either, until the audition scenes arrived. He finished it in a weekend.

No matter what happened with the audition, I felt the book had come to me as a gift. When I went into that audition, it was almost to thank them for bringing me the book.