South Korean director
Kim Jin-min
, best known for K-dramas 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Lawless Lawyer' and 'Extracurricular', on Tuesday said he wanted to go back to his action roots with his new show '
My Name
'.
Kim Jin-min's other drama hits include 'Time Between Dog and Wolf', 'Road No 1' and 'God of War'.
'My Name', about a woman seeking to avenge her father's death, is, in spirit, close to the 2007 show 'Time Between Dog and Wolf', which also focused on themes of revenge and trust.
"When I choose a script to work on, I have to find a reason to pick it. 'Extracurricular' was loved a lot and I looked through a lot of scripts to select what I should work on next. But then, action is something I haven't been working on for quite long. I had done action in the earlier part of my career, so I wanted to do it again," Kim Jin-min told reporters in a global press conference.
'My Name' features Han So-hee, known for popular K-dramas like 'The World of the Married' and 'Nevertheless', as
Yoon Ji-woo
who puts her trust in Choi Moo-jin (
Park Hee-soon), the leader of the country's biggest drug cartel Dongcheon and goes undercover as a cop to catch her father's killer.
The eight-part series is written by Kim Ba-da.
The director said he wanted Han So-hee to fully commit to the series, which is replete with action stunts, as 'My Name' could be a "rare" opportunity for the actor famous for her roles in romantic dramas.
"I told her 'Many people think that you are a beautiful actor, so you will have many opportunities to play a beautiful role. But this may be your rare chance to jump into a really physical and harsh kind of role. If you are really willing to take part in this project, I would be willing to work with you too.' Thanks to martial arts directors on set, she didn't get injured."
Kim Jin-min believes working on this series helped Han So-hee grow as an actor, he said.
"To sum it up, this is the story of someone seeking revenge. It's also a journey of finding herself... When I first met So-hee, she promised me that she will practice hard. And I told her, 'If you don't practice action scenes well, I don't want to work with you. You are really fit for the melodrama. It's not going to be an easy task, but if you'll practice hard, I'd love to work with you'. That's what she did, she was all-in for the role," he added.
The main theme of the series is revenge, which the director said was a concept that was "very close to righteousness and justice".
"Through Ji-woo, we are constantly confronted with the question 'Is this revenge reasonable, right or worth fighting for?' That was one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to direct it."
Helming the series was a "huge responsibility" for the director, he said, adding that he felt if he didn't do justice to the action sequences, the audience wouldn't like it.
And yet, he didn't want stunts to "dominate" the story.
"At first, I thought maybe I shouldn't differentiate the female lead series from the others. What I highlighted to the martial arts director was that this (series) should be realistic. Action for the sake of action would be necessary, but then I didn't really want it to dominate the screen.
"Since there is a lot of action, there has to be some variety. (There should be) something you can do with your body and your brain, all of it, should be there in the series. Starting from
Bruce Lee and other famous action actors, we have seen a lot of variety already. So what I wanted to highlight here was realistic action because it's about an undercover cop."
Kim Jin-min also expressed gratitude towards the cast and martial arts directors for doing an amazing job with the stunts, adding "ninety-nine per cent of the action" was done by the actors themselves. They also had help from real-life officers in the police force, where the ratio of female and male officers was quite similar to what is shown in the series."
As writer Kim Ba-da had created the characters with the clear distinction of 'good' and 'evil', the director said he simply followed the outline given by her.
"In the past, I thought the bad guys would be depicted as not so bad and the good guys would be depicted as not so good. But in 'My Name', I focused on their nature first. In the end, the bad guys are bad and the good guys are good. The writer also did the same. She was very determined to portray the good and evil in a strict way."
'My Name' also features '
Itaewon Class
' breakout star Ahn Bo-hyun, 'Kingdom' actor
Kim Sang-ho
, 'The World of the Married' actor
Lee Hak-joo
and Chang Yull.
Three out of eight episodes of the series will be screened at 26th Busan International Film Festival in the newly created 'On Screen' section, on Thursday as part of its world premiere.
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