| Shin Min-a, left, and Lee Je-hoon pose at a press conference for "Tomorrow With You," Monday. / Yonhap |
By Park Jin-hai
"Guardian: The Lonely and Great God," the much-hyped fantasy drama on tvN, concluded with grand fanfare last week. Time-traveling romantic comedy "Tomorrow with You" will take its slot, with viewers questioning if the new tvN drama could replicate the success of its predecessor.
The 16-episode drama, starring actress Shin Min-a and actor Lee Je-hoon, tells the story of Yoo So-joon, played by Lee, a young CEO of a real estate company who has the ability to travel through time.
It was penned by Heo Sung-hye who previously wrote the scenario of movie "All About My Wife (2012)" and directed by Yoo Je-won, whose works include "Oh My Ghostess (2015)" and "High School King of Savvy (2014)." The drama began filming in September and wrapped in mid-December.
Actress Shin plays the role of Lee's love interest Song Ma-rin, an unknown shopping mall photographer who had once been a popular child actress.
After Yoo sees his mysterious death in the future, together with Song, he decides to marry her to change his fate.
Actor Lee, who has shown a strong presence on tvN's hit criminal action series "Signal" last year, will return to the time travel story again. In "Signal, Lee's character travels between the past and present through the medium of a walkie-talkie to solve criminal cold cases. This time, Lee goes between the present and the future by getting on a subway train.
Actress Shin, who has played mostly lovely characters in many of her previous romantic dramas including "Oh My Venus (2015)," joins tvN's latest drama.
Lee said he chose the drama since he wanted to get away from the "sharp and strong" image. "Except in the 2012 movie Architecture 101, I've always been portrayed as serious, strong and sharp on the screen. This time I wanted to do a romance comedy that viewers can feel close to and feel at ease," the 32-year-old actor said during a media event to promote the drama at Imperial Palace in southern Seoul, Monday.
Shin said she tried to distance herself from her past roles by being more natural.
"In previous fantasy romantic dramas, I had additional devices to establish the characters. I wore special makeup to be a fat woman or become a storybook nine-tailed fox. This time, although there are ample elements that make it a fantasy drama, I tried to act as natural as possible to portray an ordinary 31-year-old woman with agonies, who would be around you at any time," said Shin. "Playing a realistic character would come as fresh to viewers."
Director Yoo said although the drama taps many genres _ romantic comedy, thriller and fantasy _ romance is the main one. "Instead of setting a certain genre, it should be said that the love story takes the center and many other elements are involved in the way of telling the romance. Viewers can follow the story without going through much hard thinking," he said.
Since the drama is a follow-up to "Guardian," which posted 20.5 percent viewership, breaking a cable drama record, Yoo said it has been unavoidable to feel pressure. "Talk of Guardian makes me sweat. I feel enormous pressure, too. I would say that our drama is an entirely different drama that people will sit down and watch it comfortably, feeling warmth."
TvN's latest Friday-Saturday drama "Tomorrow with You" premieres Feb. 3. at 8 p.m.