구미호뎐 | Tale of the Nine Tailed - Jo Bo Ah Wrap Interview Excerpt
Q: How do you imagine the story continues after the final episode?
A: At the end there is a scene almost like an epilogue where Lee Yeon meets the Samjae and his eyes suddenly change, right? If it turns out that Lee Yeon still has some bit of his power as a mountain god left, then I think it would be interesting if Ji Ah, who belongs completely to the human world, and Lee Yeon, who has a small amount of supernatural powers, live as a couple who help the weak and misfortunate together like the Avengers.
구미호뎐 | Tale of the Nine Tailed - Jo Bo Ah Q&A Wrap Interview
Q: From around the start of summer to the beginning of winter, you spent a long time with Tale of the Nine Tailed. How did you feel when you finished filming your final scene?
I think more than anything I felt that it was too bad. It was my longest collaboration ever, living as Ji Ah and Ah Eum for over 7 months. To the extent that it was multi-genre, from fantasy to action, thriller, and even romance, I think I immersed myself in filming with a great deal of concentration. So I think it’s a production that will remain in my heart for a particularly long time. I hope the viewers will also remember ‘Nam Ji Ah’ for a long time.
Q: You played a character three dimensional enough to have been considered 4 roles in 1. When you acted, what did you focus on most?
In this production you can think of me as having played four roles: Ji Ah and Imoogi-possessed Ji Ah, and Ah Eum and Imoogi-possessed Ah Eum. For my main character Ji Ah, from the start I analyzed her a lot and talked with the writer and director a great deal while creating her. When I threaded Imoogi into gallant and chic Ji Ah, I raised the tone of my voice so that it would contrast with hers, and I worked to express Imoogi with a cruel manner of speech and expressions. Also, because I thought of the Imoogi from her previous life and her current life as one and the same, I also acted Ji Ah who had changed into Imoogi while watching the scenes where Ah Eum changed into Imoogi.
Q: Ah Eum’s action scenes in [Ji Ah’s] past life left a strong impression. Do you think you might want to try your hand at something in the action genre?
Seeing as how I encountered the action genre for the first time in this production, I felt a bit of dread and was quite afraid. But while commuting to action school and preparing ahead of time and then working with the stunt director and my counterpart actors on set, the process of making each scene cut by cut was actually really thrilling. Action acting, which has a different quality to it than any acting I’ve done so far, felt novel to me and was really really fun.
Also, the completed scenes were edited even more convincingly that what I had imagined, so I think I felt quite accomplished. If there are action roles that I can pull off in the future, I’ve developed the desire to try my hand at them.
Q: Nam Ji Ah was a confident and strong-willed character, but there were many scenes in which she sheds tears. What’s the secret to shedding tears?
There’s no secret technique to crying well. It’s a little embarrassing, but while not only Ji Ah, but Ah Eum too, were strong people, the circumstances and pain that the two carry was well illustrated in the story. I think that when I felt that [pain] and thought about it the tears came naturally.
Q: There was a lot of buzz about you being a ‘visual [highly attractive] couple,’ but how was your collaboration with Lee Dong Wook?
Lee Dong Wook sunbae-nim is the type who leads well. From the time the drama began to when it ended, I depended on him a lot and received help from him, and I learned from him as we filmed. To the extent that sunbae-nim took the lead for me and I did my best to follow him, I think our unique chemistry was well expressed, and I’m very thankful that the viewers looked on us favorably.
Q: You made self-produced promotional videos with Lee Dong Wook and uploaded them to social media, but what was the impetus for that?
To the extent that we spent a long time preparing the production, the affection we had for it was very great for the both of us. And so I think our feelings of wanting to introduce and promote the production we had worked so hard on to even a few more people were exactly in sync. So we both decided to do our best to make something. It began with us deciding to try making use of the end of episode 2 when Ji Ah changes into Imoogi and grabs Lee Yeon by the throat and make it like a parody and went from there.
Q: The straight-ball lines that you threw at Lee Rang (Kim Beom) were particularly intense. Are there any lines that you felt, ‘this is going too far’?
There were really a lot of lines that I felt went too far (laughs). “You look like s**t in that suit,” these sort of lines. I think the parts when she’s with Lee Rang using expletives or speaking very strongly really served to highlight Ji Ah’s unique appeal. And so for me, of all my lines in the drama, I think the strong lines I said to Lee Rang were my favorite. (laughs)
Q: If you had to pick the most memorable episode that happened while filming what would it be?
I think, in any case, the scene I care for and love the most is the scene in her previous life containing Ah Eum and Lee Yeon’s sad circumstances. As soon as I received the script I really cried a lot [reading it], and when we were filming it, it actually took me a lot of effort to hold back my tears because I had to die and leave Lee Yeon behind. Because we filmed deep in the quiet forest for three days with a high degree of concentration, I feel like I was able to do so without any regrets. It’s the most memorable scene for me.
Q: How do you imagine the story continues after the final episode?
At the end there is a scene almost like an epilogue where Lee Yeon meets the Samjae and his eyes suddenly change, right? If it turns out that Lee Yeon still has some bit of his power as a mountain god left, then I think it would be interesting if Ji Ah, who belongs completely to the human world, and Lee Yeon, who has a small amount of supernatural powers, live as a couple who help the weak and misfortunate together like the Avengers.
Q: Finally, something you’d like to say to the viewers who loved Tale of the Nine Tailed?
I’d like to express my sincere thanks to the many people who have loved Tale of the Nine Tailed this far. All productions are precious [to me], but this production is one that I will really think back on a lot. I received a lot of love via this drama, and since I had wanted to show that this side of actress Jo Bo Ah also exists, and it seems that that was expressed even a little bit, it’s a production I’m very grateful to.
JBL | Actor Interview Excerpts - Junho describes Won Jin Ah
“When I saw Jin Ah for the first time she appeared extremely loveable, small and delicate. When you talk with her, you come to realize that she’s easy-going and frank. She had a charm that came from that contrast. She’s a friend who is small but has a stout heart. At the wrap party, we watched the drama for the final time and then each gave a short speech, but I’m telling you, she looked like she was gonna cry. So I stood beside her teasing her saying, ‘Cry~, cry~.’ This was after we had already had a wrap party in Busan, so she was confident that she wouldn’t, but there she was crying. That side of her was extremely cute.”
He says Won Jin Ah’s amiable greetings to her senior actors whenever she arrived on set and her friendly personality gifted the set with a nice energy. “She’s a friend with a good atmosphere and energy [about her],” Lee Junho said, lavishing her with praise.
“She has a bright, cheerful vitality about her and good energy. She would greet us on set saying ‘Hello!’, ‘Please enjoy your meal!’, ‘Have you eaten?’ her tone slightly military-like but amiable. In any case, as a new actress, playing a lead role is incredibly fortunate, isn’t it? I think it was thanks to Jin Ah that our production shone.”
Won Jin Ah also commented in her interview with Seoul Economic Star (서울경제스타) saying, “I met [Lee Junho] in person for the first time with the director. He was very dignified and serious, and had a sense of gravity about him. I had the thought that he was calmer than I had anticipated.”
“Junho did a good job of bringing the romantic scenes to life...thanks to him I received vicarious satisfaction.”
Won Jin Ah says that she was able to learn a lot, not just from the more senior actors, but from her co-star & romantic interest, Lee Junho. Particularly because the two were close in age, they were able to act comfortably and true to life, she said. In particular, whenever Lee Junho saw Won Jin Ah he was generous with his advice, telling her that she had to ‘take good care of her physical condition’ and such, putting his faith in her as her acting-sunbae. She explained that, because the two had many stand-out kiss scenes and romantic scenes, there were some that might have been ‘cheesy’, but that Junho’s level acting was able to properly bring those romantic scenes to life.
“He really made things comfortable for me. Oppa (Junho) has an easy-going personality, so there wasn’t any uncomfortableness and he was really good to me. Even if there were lines in the script we both thought were cheesy when we [first] read them, because of the comfortable way he just tossed them out there nonchalantly, the lines weren’t corny at all and he did a good job of bringing their essence to life. They really sounded innocent and I listened to them without feeling embarrassed. There were also scenes where we wondered, ‘Is this actually possible?’ like climbing the wall (of San Ho Jang), or wrapping me up in his coat, those sorts of scenes. But it was fun and amazing to actually act out the things we had only imagined. I think by having fun digesting the lines and acting out the romantic scenes I received vicarious satisfaction. haha.”
Since this drama had many stand-out kiss scenes, we slipped in a question about who took lead [on them], to which Won Jin Ah responded, “It wasn’t the sort of thing where anyone could lead anyone. They were more cute pecks [than anything], so they weren’t even really kiss scenes,” drawing laughs. Even so, she picked the ending kiss scene as her favourite. “Up until the last episode, [I thought] the young kiss we shared at the breakwater was the best, but now [I think] the kiss we shared on the rooftop is the best,” saying “I like that it was a scene that gives you the feeling that they’re going to be happy from now on, as well”.
◇ What’s left in the end: the preciousness of ‘people’
Kang Doo was an unfortunate person who experienced hardship from a young age, but he was surrounded by good people. Halmeom (Na Moon Hee), Mari (Yoon Se Ah), and Sang Man (Kim Kang Hyun) were all on Kang Doo’s side. Junho also nodded saying, “Kang Doo is blessed with good people in his life.”
Lee Junho elaborated, “I think Kang Doo was able to endure even when he lived while constantly consuming himself thanks to the people around him. He lives for the sake of the people around him who are in similar situations, doesn’t he? The love he has for those people, that’s how he goes on. For those of us living ordinary lives, it seems like a very small thing, but for those characters, that truly was everything.”
He continued, “There’s a scene where Jae Young (Kim Hye Joon) says, ‘Oppa, what use is your pride?’ But Kang Doo is someone who has lived doing his best to toe the line, doing his utmost for the people who have stood by him. That’s why there were people willing to donate their liver to him. I think he’s really lived a good life.”
Kang Doo also received an inheritance from Halmeom, who was like a friend to him.
“I think Kang Doo was Halmeom’s one and only friend. I thought this setup was a complete fantasy, but a similar situation was published in the news. There was an abandoned [all alone in the world] elderly person who, as it turned out, had a lot of money, so he left everything to someone who had treated him as a friend, and that person who inherited it then donated all of the money [to charity]. I thought ‘this is crazy’ and very admirable. I think Halmeom also had that sort of faith in Kang Doo. So I came to think that not everything in our drama is a fiction. When I realized this, I also thought I had to act the role of Kang Doo with as much sincerity as possible.”
All of the related parties and the director said this before we even started filming: ‘We might not get very high viewership ratings, so don’t be concerned over it and don’t be hurt, let’s steel ourselves.’ At the filming site, the atmosphere didn’t change according to the viewership ratings. Even at the wrap party, the top producers and executives told us all we’d done really well, and that if we were upset or hurt about the viewership ratings not to be concerned about it. Thanks to that I was able to end on a happy note.
I’ve said this before, but this is so rare and heartwarming. I love that JBL was committed to its message from beginning to end and that everyone involved was of the same mind about it. In an industry that lives and dies by viewership ratings, it might even be unique. It’s no wonder it was in a class of its own. <3
Actress Won Jin Ah revealed her thoughts on having acted a romantic relationship with 2PM’s Junho.
“It feels like I experienced a young love with Junho-oppa in real life.” She continued, “Oppa has a really good personality and he was very considerate of me. While being very serious and professional, he also has an innocent side. I also intentionally made a lot of jokes,” and smiled.
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Won Jin Ah said, “When I first saw Junho-oppa, the feeling of ‘wow, it’s a celebrity’ was really strong.” She continued, “When he arrived on set, he’d lost a lot of weight, and the air about him was really different. I got the feeling that the Kang Doo I’d seen in the script was living and breathing right before my eyes. He was really cool. Because oppa has excellent concentration, I was also able to immerse myself more fully [in my character],” and expressed her thanks.
