How can you make Ahn Hyo-seop like this? Director Kim Jin-won of ‘In Your City’ “If you watch it until the end, you will understand, I hope you will give it to the ‘Nth degree’” [Interview summary]

[OSEN=Reporter Kim Na-yeon] Director Kim Jin-won of ‘In My Heart’ revealed the story behind the work.

On the morning of the 11th, an interview with director Kim Jin-won of the Netflix original drama ‘Into Your Time’ was held at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

‘Into Your Time’ is about Jun-hee (played by Jeon Yeo-bin), who was missing her boyfriend who passed away a year ago, and as fate would have it, time travels to 1998 and meets Si-heon (played by Ahn Hyo-seop), who looks exactly like her boyfriend, and her friend In-gyu (played by Kang Hoon). It is a mystery romance that you experience after meeting.

‘Into Your Time’, produced in a total of 12 episodes, was released in its entirety on Netflix on the 8th. Director Kim Jin-won said, “I didn’t know much about those aspects because I don’t use social media at all, but personally, compared to other works, I got a lot of people saying they enjoyed it and I got the feeling that the feedback came quickly. People from overseas also contacted me. “I thought, ‘Is this the power of Netflix?’” he said.

According to Flix Patrol, a global OTT ranking site, ‘Into Your Time’ ranked 8th globally and 1st in Korea among Netflix TV series. Director Kim Jin-won confessed, “Compared to being anxious over the weekend, I feel a little lighter now,” but added, “I’m nervous again because I’m going to be interviewed.”

This ‘Into Your Time’ was director Kim Jin-won’s first work with Netflix. “I want to continue working with Netflix,” he joked, adding, “The work process was quite new. Every time I work on a project, the number of staff I don’t know increases. Before that, there were about 60 or 70 people, and I remember most of the staff, but the number continued to increase. This time, perhaps because it was Netflix, there was a staff member in charge of work on one side that I didn’t know, and in the process of giving feedback and confirming the work with that person, I felt, ‘This is how we are being differentiated and developed.’ “It was a similar feeling to when I first did the mini-series because it was a process of continuous learning and acquisition,” he said, adding, “There were things that were more fun because I didn’t know, and there were also points that I had to worry about because I didn’t know.”

He revealed that he remembers a contact from an acquaintance who said, “You did a good job making it,” and added, “There is a Korean-Japanese person I met while filming ‘A Nice Guy,’ and he said that this work warmed his heart compared to the works after ‘A Nice Guy.’. “He said he felt nostalgic and that it reminded him of how he felt when he was in Korea,” he said, sharing a proud anecdote.

‘Into Your Time’ is a remake of the Taiwanese drama ‘Sanggyeonni’, which ended in popularity in 2020. ‘Sanggyeonni’ was such a global hit that a considerable fandom was formed even in Korea. When asked about the main focus in the process of remaking ‘Sanggyeonni’ into a Korean drama, director Kim Jin-won said, “I did not think about significantly changing the work from the beginning of the script work. As we progress through our story, there are parts where the characters move. “I thought I would go accordingly,” he replied.

He said, “There are many changes in the character. “I think the change in the character, rather than the change in the overall content, made the tone, emotional line, and other things of the work feel different,” he said. “The most difficult thing while filming was that it seemed too similar to the original, but I didn’t think it would work, and if I get further away from the original, I also like the original.” As someone who did it, I was worried about whether fans of the original would like the much-changed look. “It was very difficult to strike a balance because I had to be careful about being the same as the original and also being careful about being too different,” he confessed.

In particular, director Kim Jin-won recommended that the actors not watch the original work. Regarding this, director Kim Jin-won said, “When we first met, actress Jeon Yeo-bin was already very fond of ‘Sanggyeonni,’ and actors Kang Hoon and Ahn Hyo-seop had not seen ‘Sanggyeonni.’ He said it would be best not to see it if possible. I also liked the original work, but I stopped watching it at all during the script revision process. I felt like I had something to follow. “From an actor’s point of view, when you read the script, you need things like imagination to capture the emotional line or connect time to time, but when you see the original, you will have no choice but to follow it implicitly, so I thought it would be best not to watch it if possible,” he explained.

Just as he said that there were many changes in the character, Nam Si-heon, played by Ahn Hyo-seop, was more serious than in the original work. Director Kim Jin-won, who said that this was also “intentional,” said, “I thought that the change in Si-heon’s character was one of the things that was closely related to changing the tone of the entire drama. And the writer said, ‘I thought the male lead in our drama felt more adult and mature.’ I thought of Si-heon as a caring person who understands In-gyu’s pain and who firmly rejects Min-ju’s confession but does not let Min-ju get hurt. “I thought Siheon’s adult and maturity helped the story progress smoothly,” he said.

However, some viewers complained about Nam Si-heon’s styling in 2023. Contrary to his dull appearance in the original, Ahn Hyo-seop appeared in ‘Into Your Time’ with shaggy hair and an unshaven beard, causing a shock. Director Kim Jin-won joked about this, saying, “For that part, I also told actor Hyo-seop on set, ‘I made you like this, so if the work is released, you might be criticized socially.’”

He said, “I discussed the concept of Siheon in his 40s with actor Ahn Hyo-seop several times and did several styling tests. He changed his hairstyle and tried on various wigs. The most important thing about Siheon’s concept in his 40s was that the depth of his pain had to be shown. He explained, “He suffered a loss and gave up a lot of things, and I thought he must have looked exhausted and not taking care of himself due to his desperation.”

He continued, “I tested many looks of Siheon, who is in his 40s, and he looked dandy no matter what. So she made that choice. There was also a formal reason. Actor Ahn Hyo-seop will play four roles per person. Si-heon had the biggest physical age difference, and as a result, I thought it was necessary to clearly separate the two characters and differentiate them visually. “I thought that the emotional contrast between the two would be easily understood if their appearances were clearly different,” he said. “I wonder how upsetting the visuals of Siheon, who is in his 40s, must have been to the fans. Of course, I was very upset, but for the sake of understanding and emotion of the drama, I thought it would be better to show a prettier side of Yeonjun (played by Ahn Hyo-seop) in the university scenes and in his appearance. “You may feel repulsed when you just look at the photo, but if you follow your emotions, you will understand,” he emphasized.

He also mentioned the scene of running through the rain on a rainy day, which is the signature scene of ‘Sanggyeonni’. In the original, it was a scene where the three people, Nam Si-heon, Kwon Min-ju, and Jeong In-gyu were running together, but in ‘Into Your Time’, only Nam Si-heon and Kwon Min-ju appear. Director Kim Jin-won said, “I also had a lot of pressure. The rain scene in the director was one of my favorite scenes, so I thought to myself, ‘It would be difficult to film it better than that.’ A tremendous amount of effort was put into selecting the location. “We also filmed the running time at the right time when the sun was reflecting off the river,” he said, pointing out its importance.

He said, “It was such an important scene, and in the original work, the friendship between the three people was more emphasized, but our goal was to quickly get to the main event in the beginning, so we needed to focus more on those two people. I think Siheon liked Junhee from the moment they met at the park. The point of that scene is that it is the scene where Siheon realizes that he likes Junhee. So, in the OST, they talk about falling in love. “I thought it would be good to clearly focus on Siheon looking at Junhee,” he explained.

Regarding the ending that is different from the original, director Kim Jin-won said, “I think it would be a dream in some ways to create our own ending. During the remake process, if we kept the ending the same as the original, it would feel like we didn’t do our best for the characters we created. Surprisingly, there was no major disagreement about the ending when the author wrote the first draft. “The points that changed were Siheon’s job and the detailed narration lines, and when the writer brought in the draft saying, ‘I want our ending to be like this,’ everyone was satisfied with the scene.” He added, “This is a work that will make you reconsider the previous parts once you see it to the end. “I hope that as many people as possible will do it to the Nth degree,” he said.

/delight_me@osen.co.kr

[Photo] Netflix