Since her small screen debut in 2014, Lee Sung Kyung has carved her way as one of K-dramaland's best. She wowed everyone with her acting chops as a haughty high school student in It's Okay, That's Love. No one will forget her as an aspiring athlete in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo. When she became a PR head in Shooting Stars, she continued to prove that she is indeed a rom-com royalty. For her latest project, Sung Kyung tried a new genre that she has never done before—and you bet that she did well!
Sung Kyung plays a revenge-driven woman named Shim Woo Joo in Disney+'s Call It Love and compared to her other dramas, her character here is much more reserved and serious. Nevertheless, she did an amazing job portraying this kind of role for the first time. Call It Love's director Lee Kwang Young actually has the best things to say about her: "Sung Kyung was just beyond my expectations. When her innate cheerful vibe was met with those blunt words, it just created a totally new blend. We'll have more scenes with Woo Joo taking a step forward from Dong Jin (Kim Young Kwang) and her indifferent attitude toward life, and Sung Kyung does a perfect job portraying that process so I'm sure you'll enjoy it."
In an interview, director Lee Kwang Young shares more about Call It Love, what makes it unique, and her inspiration for the scenes.
Woo Joo binge eats to fill the empty spot in her heart and we see eating scenes in every episode. Is there a particular reason for such scenes?
I think it all always boils down to our stories of eating and living on. In the show, Woo Joo stuffs even more food into her mouth when it's been a long day for her. Dong Jin also grabs something to eat even on those days that make it difficult for him to swallow anything—all because he needs to live on. I thought this point was tangent to the message of our show, of showing the persistent lives of people. These scenes reflected all of us who are enduring today and who need to endure tomorrow.
We heard it was your idea to employ the song "Secret Garden," originally sung by Lee Sang Eun, in the K-drama's OST. What about the song appealed to you?
One day, I was getting ready for shooting and overheard the song Secret Garden sung by Lee San Eun on the radio. I was familiar with the track but since my head was filled with Woo Joo and Dong Jin at the time, the lyrics came to be in a different light. "Every day it'll get better little by little. You're watching me. I gotta get it together. I'm going to be happier" I was hooked on this line. You start loving someone and don't just want them to make you happy, but rather, you want to make yourself happier because you know that person is watching you. I thought that chain of thought was quite like what Woo Joo and Dong Jin would have felt. And what they do to get happier is nothing fancy—just eating lunch together at a newly-open place.
As a director, I also wanted to bring to the viewers the experience of cherishing every ordinary moment of your life after falling in love with someone. That's why I thought this song was the one for our show. I called up the composer right away and asked him to use this song no matter what. Since the original song is so famous and unique, I thought a distinctive voice would do this song justice. I was very happy and grateful that we could have Wonstein sing this song.
What do you think sets Call It Love apart from other romance dramas?
Call It Love focuses not only on loving and being loved but also on how one's life changes through such love. And love in this show doesn't necessarily have to be romantic. It could be love between friends, family, or in any sort of bond. While a bond can sometimes weigh down on you, it also helps you withstand hardships in life. I wanted to talk about these kinds of bonds and worked on this show hoping that the characters in the show would take a step forward in their life thanks to this emotion called love.
Which scene do you think truly embodies the emotions of Woo Joo and Dong Jin? What are some scenes in Call It Love that Disney+ fans should keep their eyes on?
For Woo Joo, there is that one scene in the first episode when she is walking and holding an umbrella after learning of her father's death from a text message. If you look closely enough, Woo Joo is walking one way but all the other characters and the background flow in the opposite direction. I thought Woo Joo is a character who is stuck in the past and walks backward instead of moving forward. So when we were shooting this scene, everyone else walked the usual way and Sung Kyung had to walk backward. While it was a difficult scene to shoot, I really liked this scene because it shows how Woo Joo cannot move forward and is just barely carrying on with her life.
My favorite scene with Dong Jin is the shadow scene in the motel room in the fifth episode. Due to his breakup with his girlfriend at the camping site, he doesn't dare go camping, which is pretty much the only thing he enjoys in life. So he also just barely lives on with an unhealed wound inside him. But his shadow, like Peter Pan, would go on a trip on his behalf. Get away from work, go camping, and drink beer—that's what Dong Jin really wants. But when the shadow is drinking beer the chair he's sitting on breaks down and the shadow falls back into reality where we see a down-at-the-heels Dong Jin falling asleep on the motel bed without even getting changed. I felt this scene really captured the lonely and desolate reality Dong Jin is in.
I think the first scene in the first episode embodies the overarching message I wanted to convey through this show. It starts off with the lonely back of Dong Jin who's at his vacant office even before sunrise. The sun rises, he works, the sun goes down, and he's still at the office working. Through this scene, I wanted to paint the picture of what viewers are going to see in this show—the story of people living on and enduring. I think Park Hasun's special narration perfected the scene.
What was the main message in Call It Love that you wanted to get across to the audience?
Living life comes with emotional scars and loneliness. Despite being so, we live on. I wanted to tell the audience, or myself, that this is how we all live. But as Woo Joo meets Dong Jin, and Dong Jin meets Woo Joo, they take a step forward. We also can take a step forward with the smallest trigger. This is the consolation and hopes that I wanted to bring to the audience.
Call It Love is your first foray into an OTT series. How does it make you feel as your work is showcased to a global audience through Disney+?
It definitely has a different ring to it, compared to conventional channels. Since so many people have poured their hearts and souls into this work, I just hope that viewers would enjoy and love the show. I'm quite nervously waiting for the episodes myself every week.
