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| Actors Sung Hoon, from left, Hong Ji-yun, director Jung Jung-hwa, Im Soo-hyang, and Shin Dong-wook pose during the online press conference for the new rom-com series "Woori the Virgin," Wednesday. Courtesy of SBS |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Actors Im Soo-hyang and Sung Hoon have teamed up again to co-lead the new SBS romantic comedy series "Woori the Virgin," about 11 years after they played a couple in the 2011 romance series "New Tales of Gisaeng."
"Since we worked together at the start of our career, we've formed a sense of companionship," Im said during the online press conference for the series, Wednesday. "I was really happy and relieved that (Sung) took the lead role."
The series, scheduled to premiere on May 9, is the Korean adaptation of the popular American series "Jane The Virgin," which ran for five seasons starting back in 2014.
Led and written by Jung Jung-hwa, the director of the 2019 rom-com "Absolute Boyfriend," the new series revolves around a 29-year-old woman, Oh Woo-ri, who is the assistant writer for a famous "makjang" ― a soapy K-drama with extreme and absurd elements in its plot― series.
She is a virgin but one day, she accidentally gets inseminated by her physician with the sperm of a successful CEO named Raphael (Sung Hoon) and faces single motherhood.
"(The original series) has far more extreme elements than Korean makjang (over the top) dramas… so I tried to adapt it into Korean style," the director said. "I put in great effort in adapting the script for local viewers to easily enjoy the story. (But at the same time,) I tried to keep the spice of the original story."
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| A poster for the series / Courtesy of SBS |
Jung said the key in making the Korean adaptation was to change the sentiment of the plot to target local viewers.
"There were a lot of elements that didn't (culturally) suit the Korean audience. But since we still have to portray the intriguing parts of the original work, the important part was to incorporate our cultural sentiment, rather than just translating the script," he said.
The director said the core of the series will be about family. "It is a rom-com series but rather than focusing on finding love, the key focus will be on the process the female lead character goes through to form a family," he said. "I believe family is the source that gives us strength in our life. I hope viewers enjoy how a family of three female generations find the answers to their life."
Im expressed that she was drawn to the unique concept of the series. "I was reading through the script thinking 'can we even make this kind of story in Korea?'" she said. "I was curious how the character gets through the crisis… and how she came to decide to keep her virginity until marriage."
She added that the series mixes fictional stories with realistic elements. "There's a lot of fictional elements in the series. The director incorporates fantasy and reality together very well, and makes the fictional elements more dramatic and comical" she said. "It was such a refreshing experience."
"Woori the Virgin" airs Monday and Tuesday at 10 p.m. on SBS.
