“The Red Sleeve” PD Jung Ji-in: “Lee Jun-ho cried a lot after reading the letter of apology”
“The Red Sleeve” PD Jung Ji-in drew attention by revealing the drama’s behind stories.
PD Jung Ji-in appeared as a guest on MBC’s ombudsman program “Craving TV” that aired on Jan 14th and revealed behind stories of the Friday-Saturday drama “The Red Sleeve“. As “The Red Sleeve” ended with episode 17 on Jan 1st, PD Jung Ji-in explained, “I kept thinking that these characters were a little insufficient to capture the times. We planned 20 episodes but the work ended up with 17 episodes due to organization and production conditions.”
She added, “I was very worried since it was such a well-known era. The things I paid the most attention to were etiquette and seating arrangement. The writer said she would like both main actors and extras to perform the same etiquette and posture, so they went to the etiquette class to learn manners, greetings and tea ceremony etiquette. Seating arrangement wasn’t as easy as I thought. I had to ask for advice one by one.”
Besides, PD Jung Ji-in also told stories about Lee San (played by Lee Jun-ho) and Seong Deok-im (played by Lee Se-young). She shared, “In the case of Uibin Seong, she tried to capture the lively and mischievous side of the original work. She is also one of the few people who left their names among concubines. There was a crisis in the second half, so in the beginning, she tried to give as much vitality and naturalness as possible. I had a lot of worries regarding Jungjo, but when I met Lee Jun-ho, he told me he wanted the character to be perfect in many ways. Jungjo was set as a person who is sensitive but gives infinite trust and love to those who come within his boundaries.”
PD Jung Ji-in emphasized, “I tried to adapt it well so that even those who haven’t seen the original work could enjoy it. The writer’s role was important in the overall adaptation. What I focused on the most was the emotional aspect.”
PD Jung said she received a lot of help from art teams and makeup teams while managing her first historical drama, adding, “I looked through 50 to 60 colors to choose for the clothes of court ladies alone. We also made all of the headband buttons and skull caps. The flower headband button, which became the hot topic in the King’s order scene, was also made only for that scene.”
In particular, the behind-the-scenes story of the scene where Lee San checked the legacy of Deok-im drew attention. PD Jung said, “Before filming the scene, Junho said he didn’t want to see what’s in the box. He said he didn’t want to know what order the pieces were put in. I thought about the order and put jeogori, a letter of apology, and two books, and finally the pocket,” she explained.
She said, “Deok-im couldn’t give the King the pocket after finding out she was pregnant. Lee San didn’t know what it was until the end,” adding, “(Lee Jun-ho) cried a lot after reading the letter of apology. He must have thought of it when filming the scene. He sobbed when looking at the Jeogori.”
PD Jung Ji-in said, “The moment he picked up the jeogori and smelled it, he smelled the perfume that Se-young used to wear, and it made him more emotional. He was more emotional because of Deak-im’s smell in it,” she recalled.
The backstory of the 17th episode with the “eternal ending” was also revealed. PD Jung Ji-in wanted to finish the drama with narrations, asking Lee Jun-ho to do it with his emotions and Lee Se-young to do it contemplatively without adding emotions. The two did different styles of narrations, so Lee Jun-ho was asked to watch the last video, and Lee Se-young didn’t. PD Jung Ji-in said, “Se-young did the narration without watching the video. Junho did it in the middle of watching the video, which makes it so sad.”
Meanwhile, PD Jung Ji-in said, “I am currently working on the narration of ‘The Red Sleeve’,” adding, “As the drama was extended from 16 episodes to 17 episodes, I think I need to fix it once with the existing ending.” “I think it will be different from the ending we saw on air,” drawing attention by hinting at a different ending of the drama. “And I think I’ll have to go on a long vacation,” she said.
