Lee Yeon-hee, 'return to acting' Jung Yun-ho's office drama 'Race'

TVXQ's U-Know Yunho (Jung Yunho) returns as an actor after 6 years. The opponent is Lee Yeon-hee, who had a meal together at her agency SM. As both of them have suffered from controversy over their acting skills in the past, attention is focused on how much they can show growth.

The production presentation for Disney+'s original 'Race' was broadcast live online. Actors Lee Yeon-hee, Hong Jong-hyun, Moon So-ri, Jeong Yun-ho and director Lee Dong-yoon attended the event.

'Race' is an office drama in which Park Yoon-jo (played by Lee Yeon-hee), who has no qualifications but is hired as a contract worker at a large company due to his passion, struggles to survive at work after being embroiled in a hiring scandal.

Regarding the meaning of the title 'Race', director Lee Dong-yoon said, "RACE has a dot in between. It is the initials of Research, Action, Communication, and Revelation. Also, 'Race' is about breathing on one's own and following one's own path rather than competing. “It contains people’s races,” he explained.

When asked if it reminds him of 'Misaeng' in that it is an office film, director Lee said, "The space within the company, such as the set, was borrowed from 'Misaeng' and 'My Mister.' It was a good example." He continued, "'Misaeng' is more corporate." “If you mainly do internal work, we are talking about people who do public relations work,” he said about the difference.

Lee Yeon-hee, who attempted an unconventional transformation with a short haircut, said about the reason she chose to appear in 'Race', "Watching Yoonjo, I thought that I wanted to represent the friends of today's era. I prepared by asking a lot of friends around me how their work lives were."

He added, "I looked for books that contained the private lives of public relations people. I thought it was a job that would be difficult to do if you didn't really like it. I tried to express it with that in mind."

Hong Jong-hyun plays Ryu Jae-min, an ace at a large company who knows how to enjoy work-life balance. He explained about the character, "I work at a prosperous company, but I am not passionate about my work. Work is work, and my personal life is also important to me. I work moderately, but I am a person who is evaluated as good at that."

Hong Jong-hyun, who is attempting an office film for the first time, said, "I had expectations and worries, but it was fun to film a lot of content in one space. It was also a new experience to think a lot about people who go about their daily lives at work."

He denied the claim that it was the 'standard suit' and said, "In the past, I played characters who went to the market or wore flashy suits, so there were a lot of lines, but this time, I tried to wear a suit as plain as possible."

Hong Jong-hyun, who became a close friend with Lee Yeon-hee. He said, “He was a senior to me, but at some point, he became like a close older sister and friend.” In response, Lee Yeon-hee made people laugh by saying, “I tried to act like a young friend.”

Moon So-ri played the role of Gu Yi-jeong, everyone's role model and the best PR specialist in the industry. Moon So-ri said, "It was interesting that the subject matter was the public relations team. In the office work I filmed previously, it was the human resources team, so I was curious about what the public relations team was like."

In the play, Moon So-ri shows off her short hair and office look. He joked, "I thought about what I should do to avoid becoming an old man as much as possible. I was worried about what I would do if Lee Yeon-hee, Hong Jong-hyun, and Jung Yun-ho found me difficult, so I decided to keep quiet and quit when I went to the scene." .

Moon So-ri said she met Lee Yeon-hee for the first time through 'Race' and said, "The image I had before was soft, feminine, and infinitely clear, just like a cosmos." He added, "When I met her in person, she was confident and her voice was full of passion. I wonder if Lee Yeon-hee is this kind of person. “I don’t know if it happened because Yoonjo’s character was included,” he said.

Director Lee Dong-yoon also added, “He is courageous and strong.” Lee Yeon-hee responded, "I tried hard to show it as I am in an easy-going way."

Moon So-ri works with Kim Hye-hwa (played by Lim Ji-hyeon) in the role of her college classmate. In the play, Lim Ji-hyun is the daughter of Chairman Seyong, who was appointed as the new CEO after her father passed away. Moon So-ri laughed and said, "Kim Hye-hwa thinks of me as a friend, but I don't think of her as a friend." She added, "There is no one around Lim Ji-hyun's character. Even though we are old friends, she uses the honorific title 'CEO.' I thought she must have been very lonely while filming."

He laughed and said, “Actually, I am a senior, so it would have been difficult for me to play a character who treats me like that, but he was really good at it.”

Jung Yun-ho plays Seo Dong-hoon, a young CEO who dreams of creating an agency where both the company and its employees are happy. Jeong Yun-ho introduced himself as "the CEO of an agent company. He is a person who wants to have a flexible mindset rather than an authoritarian one, with the mindset that the company is only happy when the employees are happy."

Director Lee Dong-yoon said about Jung Yun-ho, "I heard about So-min. He is always full of passion. I thought it was for broadcasting, but he was really full of passion. He shot music videos and held concerts in between filming, and even though he had the busiest schedule, he was the most undisturbed and professional. “I thought it would be tiring to live like that,” he said.

Moon So-ri recalled, "During the first script reading, Yun-ho was in Japan due to his schedule. So Yun-ho appeared via video and we greeted him on site, and he seemed like a real CEO."

'Race' will be released worldwide through Disney+ on May 10th.

Taeyuna, Ten Asia Reporter youyou@tenasia.co.kr