Yoo Seung Ho and Lee Se Young are working together again in eight years in the supernatural investigative crime drama Memorist.
In the afternoon on March 3, the production press conference for tvN‘s new Wednesday-Thursday series Memorist was held and broadcasted live only online to prevent the spread of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19). The two co-directors of the drama, Kim Hwi and So Jae Hyun, attended the event with the main cast such as Yoo Seung Ho, Lee Se Young, Jo Sung Ha, Ko Chang Seok, Yoon Ji On and Jun Hyo Seong.
Based on the same-titled webtoon published on Daum (Korean major portal website), Memorist is an investigative drama that the state-certified detective Dong Baek (Yoo Seung Ho), who has a superpower, and the elite profiler Han Sun Mi (Lee Se Young) chase a mysterious serial killer.
“It’s an Investigative Drama on a Whole Other Level”
Director Kim Hwi introduced Memorist as a drama that differentiates itself from the existing ones dealing with superpowers. “As Dong Baek investigates cases with his superpower, his investigation techniques are unique. The serial killer also has very mysterious abilities, so the criminal situations in the story are not usual. I guess the audience can see a lot of differences from the existing investigative dramas,” he explained. “In the drama, Dong Baek does not only use his superpower, but also feels pain of the victims. I will carefully express Dong Baek’s emotions,” he added.
Director So Jae Hyun mentioned the drama’s differences from the original webtoon. “Since the character Dong Baek is a state-certified psychic and everyone knows him, our drama has its own unique charm,” he said. “We’ve taken advantage of the good elements from the webtoon as much as possible. The webtoon alone was not enough to make the 16-episode drama, so we and the creators of the original work added many new stories to create another fun,” he said, signaling the drama’s own appeal.
“In Our Displeasing World, I’ll Portray a Satisfying Character Through the Drama”
Yoo Seung Ho revealed why he chose Memorist. “I enjoyed reading the script and the webtoon, and I liked Dong Baek. Dong Baek is a character whose body reacts faster than his mind,” he said. “I think the viewers will love him if I indirectly portray a satisfying character in the displeasing world.”
“Dong Baek isn’t just a fighter using his fists, he’s a character that has inner pain. Although it’s hard to express him, he’s charming,” Yoo continuously said. “I’ve been practicing my action for two months. Still difficult and burdensome to do the bare-body action, but I think the great scenes are coming out because our martial arts director has taught us very well,” he added.
“I’ve Been Attracted to the Competent Female Character”
Lee Se Young also explained about her character Han Sun Mi. “It’s a role I’ve never played before. I’ve always been eager to play a competent female character who’s engaged in a professional job,” she said. “I wanted to get out of the roles of inconvenient heroines and work with the lead male character to lead the drama.”
“The difficult thing while preparing for the character was how I express her attitude of leading and managing the situations. That’s because Han Sun mi is the youngest senior superintendent in Korean police’s history and most people under her leadership are older than me,” Lee said. “But I thought that some elements such as judgment and quickness were similar with those of the filming site, since there are many variables on the set as well as the working environment of police,” she added.
Memorist premieres at 10:50 p.m. on March 11.
