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'Like Flowers in Sand' actor Lee Joo-myeong "Wrestling is harder than it looks"
Interview with actor Lee Joo-myeong of ENA drama ‘Like Flowers in Sand’
On the 26th, actor Lee Joo-myeong gave an interview about the ENA drama 'Like Flowers in Sand' (directed by Kim Jin-woo) at a cafe located in Jongno-gu, Seoul. 'Flowers Bloom Even in the Sand' is a youth romance that unfolds when Kim Baek-du, a wrestling prodigy who has been a member of the wrestling team for 20 years, and Oh Yoo-kyung, a small town leader, meet again. Lee Ju-myeong played the role of Oh Yoo-kyung, head of the Geosan County Office wrestling management team.
The title of the work, 'Like Flowers in Sand', is a youth drama about 'hope' blooming even in seemingly impossible situations. Lee Joo-myeong said, "When I first saw the title, I thought it was a very calm drama. As the story progressed, the twists and turns of the story were drawn. I liked the hopeful part. If you listen to it in passing, you might think it's just that, but it seems to contain beautiful sincerity about flowers blooming from sand. “He said.
Although the viewership ratings were somewhat low, Lee Joo-myeong said, "I thought it would be great if many people from overseas watched it. What I was worried about was whether the dialect would work. I also thought what it would be like to feel the funny parts through subtitles. As expected, I am sincere. “I think we can connect,” he said, expressing his gratitude.
In the play, he said he had a lot of concerns while portraying Oh Doo-sik, Kim Baek-du's (Jang Dong-yoon) childhood friend, and Oh Yoo-kyung, a police officer who came down to Geosan, his hometown, to uncover the full story of the murder case. Due to the characters being similar but changing their attitude depending on the situation, he explained, "I was worried about whether it would feel too different even though it was only one person. I thought it would be good to have a little bit of different characters."
'Flowers Bloom Even in the Sand', which attracted a lot of attention in that it implemented the subject of 'ssireum' into a drama, expressed the growth, pain, and love of youth in a variety of ways. Lee Joo-myeong, who received the script for the first time and said that the subject matter of ‘ssireum’ was so unique and amazing, said that the various other stories were also fun. He added, "Isn't that what it means to work hard and make an effort? In sports, aren't there a lot of emotions of struggling and suffering alone? I think that's similar to youth."
Although he did not study wrestling in earnest, as he watched and experienced it from the side, he said, "I felt it was amazing. Unlike the coordination at action school, it is an exercise where the core and lower body are important. In the case of loincloths, it looks like you are just grabbing, but the moment you are caught, the opponent's strength is “I can feel this. It was a much more difficult exercise than it looks. But compared to other actors, I am at about 1/10th the level,” he said with a humble attitude.
The final episode of 'Like Flowers in Sand' will air on January 31 at 9 PM.
Reporter Ha-neul Lee, Ten Asia greenworld@tenasia.co.kr
