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| Actors Yeo Jin-goo, left, and Lee Se-young, pose during a press conference for tvN's new period drama "The Crowned Clown" at Imperial Palace Seoul, Thursday. / Courtesy of CJ ENM |
By Park Jin-hai
Popular cable network, tvN, ran hit period dramas "Mr. Sunshine" and "100 Days My Prince" last year, so viewers were pleased when the network unveiled its drama lineups this year with its newest period drama "The Crowned Clown."
The much-anticipated drama, starring Yeo Jin-goo and Lee Se-young, is an adaptation of the popular 2012 film "Masquerade" which attracted over 12 million moviegoers.
Set in the middle of the 1392-1910 Joseon era, when upheaval and power struggles surrounding the throne reached a high, the drama, premiered on Monday, tells the story of Yi Heon, played by Yeo, the king who brings a clown that looks identical to him and puts him on the throne to escape an assassination plot.
The 21-year-old Yeo plays the double role of the King Yi Heon and the clown Ha-seon, which was formerly performed by veteran actor Lee Byung-hun in the award-winning original movie who gave an impressive performance portraying the bizarre King Gwanghae and the humble clown.
Yeo, despite accepting that viewers' comparisons to the original film is unavoidable, says his depiction of the king and the clown will be different from that of Lee by a large margin.
"Unlike the movie, I tried to widen the gap in acting the two men to their extremes. Also, drama version includes melodrama that was unseen in the original. It has a love triangle between the two men and the Queen So Woon," the actor said during a press conference at Imperial Palace, Seoul, Thursday.
Actress Lee, on the role of the queen, says "Apart from settings, I would say a lot of things are different from the original. Lead characters' ages have become younger and I worked hard on creating a romantic chemistry with the two men."
Upping the expectation of drama fans is that tvN's new drama is the latest from director Kim Hee-won, who was highly praised for her skills in her 2017 directorial debut drama "Money Flower." It is her first drama with tvN, after leaving MBC.
Kim previously said she had some reservations for the period drama genre since it is required to "create something new out of blank" compared with modern-set dramas, but decided to challenge the genre because she really liked the characters' coming-of-age and dreaming for better world story plot.
"Although some settings in the first two episodes may overlap with the original film, after incidents that incur the clown-made-king wanting to become a real king, the rest of the story will be very different," said the director. "If my previous work was more critical and cynical to the world, I would say my new drama is a warm story. It includes characters who want to change the world on their own will and in doing so, create new human relationships and that will be distinctive point of this drama."
