Yoo Yeon-seok "I like the response to 'Understanding Love' while swearing"

“I still don’t understand love. I’ve asked myself about love and thought about it, but it seems like what I don’t understand is love. I can’t define love. Love is still something I don’t understand.”

Actor Yoo Yeon-seok, whom we met at a cafe in Gangnam-gu, Seoul for an interview at the end of the JTBC Wednesday-Thursday drama 'Understanding Love', said this when asked if he came to 'understand' love through the work.

'Understanding Love' is a melodrama that tells the story of people with different interests meeting and understanding the true meaning of love. Yoo Yeon-seok played the role of Ha Sang-soo, the manager of the general counseling team at KCU Bank.

‘Understanding Love’ shows the essence of a realistic, empathetic melodrama and elicited responses like the melo version ‘My Mister’. Yoo Yeon-seok said, "There were many teams that filmed 'My Mister', from the cinematographer to the lighting team. That's why I think the visuals had the same tone and manner as 'My Mister.' The directing also took a slower tempo than modern dramas. “I think that kind of atmosphere was discussed in comparison to ‘My Mister,’” he said.

'Understanding Love' captures not only the excitement and freshness of love, but also the emotions caused by love, such as hesitation and hesitation, from various angles, and the workplace scenes that evoke a sense of kinship provide a sense of immersion, solidifying the fan base. Although the viewership rating was in the 3% range, it received a good response in terms of OTT and online topicality ranking indicators.

Yoo Yeon-seok said, "I received a lot of calls from people around me saying they enjoyed watching it. I was very grateful that even people who don't watch dramas and people in the movie industry said they were enjoying it and that it was a well-made drama. It's hard to judge it based on viewership ratings alone, but it's a drama with a lot of love." 'Understanding Love' seems to be a drama that has a lot to talk about while watching it. I sometimes watch it with real-time chat on while watching the main broadcast, and I wondered if it was possible to watch it while discussing it so passionately. As word of mouth spread, I became absorbed in it with affection. “I’m proud that so many people saw it,” he said.

He continued, "Although not everyone understands or understands the plot, I think the charm of the drama is that it encourages people to share opinions from each person's perspective and have many questions. Seeing that the drama's ranking on Netflix has gradually risen and reached number one, I think it is receiving a lot of love. He expressed his gratitude, saying, “I think there are a lot of enthusiasts.”

When asked if he sympathized with the character Ha Sang-soo, Yoo Yeon-seok said, "I acted with empathy. I tried to understand the emotional impulses and concerns that Ha Sang-soo experiences, and I acted while understanding why he experiences these concerns, choices, and regrets. Of course, I acted with empathy." “Others might not understand it from a certain point of view, but I sympathized with it,” he said.

Yoo Yeon-seok said that he wanted to express Ha Sang-soo as an ordinary character, not a cool character. “I knew to some extent what the character’s tendencies and development would be from the original work, but when I received the script, I forgot the original work and tried to understand the character in the drama situation.” I tried to understand. When I first received the script, I was very likable and there were some cool sides to it, but while talking with the writer and director, I said that I could have a more ordinary feel, that I could be more grounded, and that I felt more comfortable with that." He said.

When asked about his synchronicity with Ha Sang-soo's character, Yoo Yeon-seok said, "It's not that we have similarities, but it's not that I only experienced love that came true. Since I also experienced the pain of unrequited love when I was young, I sympathized with Sang-soo's external love." “I don’t think I was consumed by the complex emotions and relationships that arise from going to work every day and going through repetitive daily routines, encountering awkward encounters,” he said.

The difference between Ha Sang-soo and Ahn Soo-young in ‘Understanding Love’ started with Ha Sang-soo’s hesitation. Yoo Yeon-seok said, "Sangsu is a person who has a habit of thinking about the ending ahead of time. Even at that moment, he was thinking about the future in an instant. So he was conflicted and hesitated, but he went again and caused a misunderstanding. The hesitation was not noticed. "I shouldn't have done that, but Sooyoung started to go against the grain when she saw that," he said. "Banks handle money and don't they evaluate it numerically during the loan review process? When you love someone, not only your emotional heart, but also other things are evaluated and conflicted. “I think it was expressed as a comparison between the space called a bank and the character’s conflict structure,” he explained.

When asked if he understood that there is a hierarchy in love, Yoo Yeon-seok said, "I think I also had those thoughts while filming the drama. People who watch it also talk passionately, but they can't deny it, and that's why they say it's realistic." “People said that ‘Love Understanding’ is a hyper-realistic drama. I think it was unfortunate that such conflicts could not be denied,” he said.

Were Ha Sang-soo's feelings for Ahn Soo-young love or pity? Yoo Yeon-seok said, "Caring about my heart could be a feeling of pity, or it could also be a feeling of love. I think Suyeong had that kind of caring for me. In the end, it was my hesitation that made things complicated, turned around, and took a difficult path. He said, “Because there is late regret, I can’t help but worry about it.”

Ha Sang-soo begins dating Park Mi-kyung (played by Keum Sae-rok), who approaches him despite having lingering feelings for Ahn Soo-young. However, in the end, he realizes that his heart still belongs to Ahn Soo-young and bids farewell to Park Mi-kyung. When it was said that there were many viewers who criticized Ha Sang-soo's love, Yoo Yeon-seok said, "It's a drama you watch while cursing." He added, "Among the four, no one is perfect. I wonder if there are perfect people in real life as well. The emotional lines they want to hide in complex relationships. As viewers watch from a third-person perspective, there are times when they cannot support their love and there are times when they gossip about them. The 'understanding of love' point of view is to kindly show people things that they do not need to know. So, as the episode continues, the viewer base grows. “It seems like it’s gotten thicker,” he said.

If you were Ha Sang-soo, what choice would you make? Yoo Yeon-seok said, "There is no one who doesn't understand this situation. I understand it, but it's frustrating, and I can't deny that something like that won't happen to me. I have a job that's too special for me to compare myself to Ha Sang-soo, and it's up to me which side to choose. “I don’t know because I haven’t been in that situation, but I think it would have been complicated and difficult for me too,” he said.

'Understanding Love' was also called the 'ending restaurant' due to the shocking ending in each episode. When asked about the ending that surprised him the most, Yoo Yeon-seok said, "It was the ending of Part 12 where Jong-hyun (played by Jeong Ga-ram) beats up Kyung-pil (played by Moon Tae-yu). It was so shocking. People who watched it also said that they screamed when Jong-hyun hit Kyung-pil." He laughed.

What was it like working with Moon Ga-young? Yoo Yeon-seok joked, "At the beginning of the drama, I felt awkward because I was filming with excitement. Also, it was particularly hot at the time, so my face and ears were a little red, but viewers said I was acting with excitement with my face and ears as well. Coincidentally, it was because it was hot." “In the second half of the film, actress Moon Ga-young had a lot of work experience and had been active since she was young compared to her age, so it wasn’t difficult to focus and film,” he said.

He continued, "Sooyoung's character is a really difficult role, but depending on the scene, she is really cool-headed when she acts cold-hearted, and we focused a lot on making sure that those things are expressed naturally. The charm of our drama is that we express subtle emotions, and we do that very delicately. “I was able to express it with great immersion,” he said.

Regarding his chemistry with Moon Tae-yu, who played the role of best friend, he said, "We filmed the same project during 'Sweet Life', but we hardly ever ran into each other. This time, since we appeared as best friends, as soon as we started talking comfortably, we talked about getting along. Tae-yu plays golf. "I couldn't play, but he went to the screen golf course with me, so we played golf together and went to see him perform. He's a really good actor," he praised.

Previously, Yoo Yeon-seok said that the reason he chose 'Love and Understanding' was because he wanted to do a romantic drama as his last work in his 30s. When asked the reason, Yoo Yeon-seok smiled and said, "At that time, it was before my age was announced," and added, "I don't know if I should do another melodrama by this year, but a thought occurred to me. I wanted to tell a melodrama story that can be expressed in one's 30s at this time. "There was always a melodrama part in my work, but there were few works that dealt entirely with melodrama. I just wanted to focus on a common love story," he said.

It is said that MBTI also changed while filming ‘Love and Understanding’. Yoo Yeon-seok said, "I used to be an ENFP, but I changed to ISTP. I'm not sure if it was because I was thinking about Sang-soo's feelings or if it was just timing."

Yoo Yeon-seok gained great popularity by playing the role of Chilbong in ‘Reply 1994’ (2013). However, there were many concerns due to the suddenly changed environment. He said, "Ten years after my debut, the public remembered me as Chilbong. I think I couldn't handle it because so many people came to see me at the time. It was a confusing time. I didn't know what kind of person I was originally, and I was evaluated well even if many people didn't recognize me. “I thought about what the reason was, and tried to find my constant value, to become more normal like a constant,” he said. “So much has changed in the past year or two. I had a negative bank account, but my bank account balance became positive. After that, ‘ “I got to do ‘Romantic Doctor: Teacher Kim’ (2016), and it was a time when I learned a lot from senior Han Seok-gyu,” he said.

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