"I wonder if I'm getting too excited. It's easy to get carried away, but I don't want to do that yet. I'm grateful that people remember me as actor Park Jin-young, and I hope to be remembered that way in the future."
Actor Park Jin-young shared his thoughts on the success of the tvN weekend drama 'Our Unwritten Seoul' during an interview with TENASIA at BH Entertainment's office in Gangnam, Seoul, on the 1st.
'Our Unwritten Seoul' is a romantic coming-of-age drama about twin sisters who swap lives to find true love and meaning. In the series, Park Jin-young plays Lee Ho-soo, a high school friend of the twins Yu Mi-rae and Yu Mi-ji, who is a top lawyer at a major law firm with both looks and skills.
He expressed gratitude towards Park Bo-young, with whom he shared the screen. "From the start, I felt very comfortable and in sync with her. That's my perspective, but you'd have to ask Bo-young. Thanks to her, I could act without hesitation. I had to interact with characters pretending to be Mi-rae and Mi-ji, but I didn't have to worry about it because Bo-young was there, and I just had to react to her performance," he said.
He also expressed admiration for Park Bo-young. "About 80% of the lines were hers, and she memorized them all. It was truly amazing," he marveled. "There were many scenes where Mi-ji wasn't present, and we had to act looking at empty space, but Bo-young was so well-practiced that she was almost like a machine. When I occasionally missed eye contact and caused a retake, I felt so sorry I wanted to kneel," he confessed.
Recalling a scene where he struggled with his lines, Park Jin-young said, "In episode 12, there was a scene where I had to give a ring, but for some reason, I couldn't remember any lines that day. I really wanted to cry. I wasn't supposed to, but I was so frustrated that tears came out. It was a tense situation, but Bo-young and the director reassured me, which made me even more emotional."
Park Jin-young also gained attention for his looks in 'Our Unwritten Seoul.' When asked about being noticed for his appearance, he laughed, "My parents are really good-looking. I think I inherited good genes." He continued, "When discussing with the director, we thought it would be better if Ho-soo wasn't too stylish. So, I deliberately kept my hair a bit messy and styled it with a 2:8 parting for the reunion scene. But people still found it cool, which I'm grateful for. I think they liked the character itself."
The final episode of 'Our Unwritten Seoul' achieved its highest ratings, with an average of 8.4% and a peak of 9.4% nationwide. Given the show's popularity, Park Jin-young checked the reactions online. "I searched 'Our Unwritten Seoul' on Twitter a couple of times. The response was so positive that I stopped looking," he said.
He added, "The drama is doing well, and people like it, but I worry that looking too much might make me overly excited. Searching my name still feels a bit awkward, so I don't do it often."
When told that searching for 'Park Jin-young' often brings up his name before the famous singer and JYP Entertainment founder, he humbly replied, "It's probably just temporary."
He continued, "As everyone knows, PD Park Jin-young is a legendary and cheerful figure. He was my former company's PD, and I joined JYP because of him. I respect him greatly. I think my name came up first because many people recognized me during a good period," he laughed.
By Kim Se-ah, TenAsia Reporter haesmik@tenasia.co.kr