| Actress Park Gyu-young plays the character of Seo A-ri in the Netflix original series “Celebrity.” Courtesy of Netflix |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Actress Park Gyu-young shared that her latest Netflix original series “Celebrity” was a challenge that gave her a sense of motivation.
| Actress Park Gyu-young / Courtesy of Netflix |
“With newfound confidence and a desire to learn more, it gave me the motivation to move forward to my next project.”
The new series, which was released on June 30, follows a door-to-door cosmetic saleswoman, Seo A-ri (Park), who becomes a social media star overnight with over 1 million followers. Drawn into the world of celebrity, her life undergoes a complete transformation, filled with glitz and glamour as an influencer.
Yet, fame comes with a price, as A-ri must navigate jealousy from fellow influencers and haters. When she unwillingly gets involved in a crime involving other influencers, she ends up taking her own life. But a couple of months later, she comes back to life to expose the dark sides of social media stars through live streaming.
The 12-part series is directed by Kim Cheol-kyu, who previously led the 2020 suspense crime series, "The Flower of Evil," and scripted by writer Kim Yi-young, whose previous work includes the 2019 period series, "Haechi."
Park said she tried to realistically depict social media through the story. “The viewers already know very well how social media works, so I focused on incorporating realistic elements to evoke empathy,” she said.
“This world (of social media) clearly has both its dark and bright sides. Any profession requires blood, sweat and tears, but being an influencer especially entails it. I learned how influencers work hard to create content and survive in such a competitive world.”
| A scene from the series “Celebrity” / Courtesy of Netflix |
She added she considered social media, as a conceptual entity, as her counterpart role. “I think the most important co-star that A-ri works with is social media. The way she feels towards social media changes a lot and in detail from episodes 1 through 12. I wanted that part to be understandable,” she said.
“A-ri is not afraid to express herself and has the strength to forge her own path. But my actual personality is not like that, I rather hold things in than be forward… I learned a lot. It was satisfying.”
The series is filled with eye-catching fashion moments that portray trendy social media stars. The actress shared that she changed her character's styling into three phases.
“In the series, A-ri changes in three stages. She goes from an ordinary woman to a celebrity and finally becoming a live streamer. To immerse viewers in the story, I believed visual changes were necessary, so I put a lot of thought into the styling,” she said, adding that her hairstyle was her idea.
“Although her look changes throughout the story, I wanted to keep one thing amid those changes. I thought if A-ri keeps a Lego-like hair style among the celebrities, she will stand out. And I think it was a good decision.”
Park is set to star in the platform's smash-hit series “Squid Game 2.” She expressed that landing a role in the series gave her a sense of responsibility.
“I am aware of the immense responsibility that the production team carries. Although I won't be able to fully understand that responsibility, I feel I should also bear some of it to not lay the burden on them.”