Director Lee Jung-hyo directly talked about Netflix’s recently released drama “Doona!”
As soon as it was released, Netflix’s series “Doona!” rose to No.1 on Netflix Korea’s TOP 10 TV Show and has maintained the position until now. It also ranks 7th in the Netflix Global TOP 10 (Non-English) Drama category and No.1 in the TV-OTT Drama Buzzworthy Chart.
Amid the rising popularity of “Doona!”, director Lee Jung-hyo had an interview and answered various questions regarding the drama.
“Doona!” is director Lee Jung-hyo’s comeback work 3 years after “Crash Landing on You”. In this regard, the director said, “I didn’t expect ‘Crash Landing on You’ to receive such explosive responses and it made me realize the power of melodrama once again. ‘Doona!’ is different from ‘Crash Landing on You’. It focuses on deep emotional lines rather than the narratives. It’s my first time doing a Netflix series, so I’m quite nervous thinking about how viewers will react when watching it. I hope they like it”.
Introducing “Doona!”, director Lee said, “The love story of idol singer Doona and college student Won-joon is like a fantasy, but I tried to make it a realistic melodrama. I wanted to portray the process of Won-joon following Doona from Won-joon’s perspective. Webtoon writer Min Song-ah also visited the filming set once. She read through the script, and said, ‘I like it because it’s different’.”
When asked about the two main characters Doona and Won-joon, the director explained, “Doona expresses her emotions to the fullest without a constant flow. Won-joon shows different expressions in front of the three women. He’s very kind. As the drama progresses, he slowly shows more affection for the person he really loves.” The director also emphasized that he was very surprised by the actors’ synchronization with their characters, especially Suzy and Doona.
Since the cast are almost the same age and it was a romance drama, the filming set was said to be very comfortable. The director said, “As we’ve become so close, it was very noisy every time we got together”. He then mentioned some backstories of some special cast, such as Lee Jin-wook, Kim Sun-young, and Kim Yu-mi.
Regarding the casting of members for the idol group Dream Sweat, which consists of Suzy, Go Ah-sung, La Chica members Rian & Simeez, and Janet Suhh, director Lee said, “Go Ah-sung came to the office by chance when we were preparing for ‘Doona!’. I showed her a video, saying I was learning broadcast choreography these days. For a moment, I jokingly suggested, ‘Do you want to act as an idol?’ and she agreed. I thought of La Chica when it came to idol choreography and Janet Suhh because we needed another main vocal besides Suzy.”
When asked about the ending scene, which is still arousing viewers’ interpretations, the director said, “As I said, I wanted to present the relationship between Doona and Won-joon, which is like a fantasy, in a realistic way. Who knows how life will go? No matter where they are now, how they live, or whether they may meet each other again or not, they will always remember the other in their lives.”
Lastly, the director expressed his gratitude to Suzy and Yang Se-jong for their impressive acting performances. He also delivered some words to the viewers, saying “I hope this will be a drama that you can keep in your Netflix account and rewatch whenever you think of it”.
Source: Daum
