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| From left, actor Kang Tae-oh, director Yoo In-sik, actors Park Eun-bin and Kang Ki-young pose during a press conference for the courtroom series, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," held in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of ENA |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Actress Park Eun-bin has taken on the role of a genius lawyer who is on the autism spectrum in ENA's new series, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo."
Led by director Yoo In-sik, who oversaw the hit series, "Dr. Romantic 2," the heartfelt series revolves around a newbie at a top law firm, Woo Young-woo (Park). Due to her autism, Woo has an exceptional memory, remembering every single book she has read in her life, and was at the top of her class in law school.
Starting her first job at the firm as a lawyer, Woo tackles challenges and prejudice beyond the courtroom as she wins lawsuits with the help of the firm's paralegal, Lee Jun-ho (Kang Tae-oh), and senior lawyer Jung Myung-seok (Kang Ki-young). The script is written by Moon Ji-won who also wrote the 2018 drama film, "Innocent Witness."
The series kicked off with a 0.9-percent viewership rating on Wednesday but doubled to 1.8 percent the next day with the second episode.
"As an actor, we meet our character for the first time through excerpts from the script. And when I first read those excerpts, I couldn't picture how I should portray (the character). It wasn't a script that I should see with a bias, so I felt careful. I wondered if I was even the right fit to play the character," she said during a press conference for the series, held in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul, Wednesday.
"Instead of thinking of it as acting, I tried to understand Young-woo's mind, and put both her and my heart into (the acting) and deliver it to the viewers."
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| A scene from the series, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" / Courtesy of ENA |
The actress expressed how careful she was in building a character with a disability.
"I didn't want to copy the characters that had been portrayed in the media. That was the first thing I eliminated … As my acting could spread the wrong idea (about the disability), it was a job that required caution and discretion," she said, adding that she also discussed parts of the script with an expert of the autism spectrum. "I had space for creative freedom in acting but also set an appropriate line to capture the character's heart."
The director noted that the series' heartwarming episodes and its valuable messages led him to take on the series.
"I felt that this series could (be a space) to discuss valuable and various stories. In the script, I could see the refreshing entertainment, humor and heartwarming emotion," he said. "Most legal series revolve around darkness, revenge or murder cases. But this series didn't have any of that and it stirred my curiosity … this will be a series that has both warm humor and a subtle, touching story."
"Extraordinary Attorney Woo" airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9 p.m. and is also available through streaming platforms Netflix and Seezn.
