Jung Hae-in to portray young private in Netflix's 'D.P.'

Actors Jung Hae-in, from left, Koo Kyo?hwan, Kim Sung?kyun and Son Seok-koo pose for pictures during an online press conference for the Netflix series "D.P." Wednesday. Courtesy of Netflix

By Lee Gyu-lee

Actor Jung Hae-in will be starring as a young private settling into the army as he chases after military deserters in Netflix's new original series "D.P."

Based on the webcomic "D.P. Dog's Day" (direct translation) by Kim Bo-tong, the series revolves around a special unit called Deserted Pursuit, known as D.P., which specializes in pursuing AWOL soldiers.

"This is about the things the unit goes through to catch soldiers who went AWOL. It is a coming-of-age story of the soldiers in the unit, who learn lessons as they encounter different stories of deserted soldiers and go through understanding," director Han Joon-hee explained during an online media conference for the series, Wednesday.

The director, who wrote and led the crime films "Coinlocker Girl" and "Hit-and-Run Squad," noted that he has been wanting to work on the adaptation of the webcomic for a long time.

"I've wanted to do this for five or six years and I finally got a chance. The important thing here is to decide what substances and what stories that you want to tell," he said. "And I wanted to follow young men in their early 20s and what they go through. I thought it offers something that can resonate with audiences and lay out underlying issues of our society."

Jung plays the character Ahn Joon-ho who is newly assigned to the unit. He expressed that he fell for the series right when he first read the script.

"I went through the script as if I was reading a comic book. As I flipped through pages, I could see the scenes in my head in detail. I really enjoyed it. Each character has their own color which becomes entertaining," he said.

A scene from the Netflix series "D.P." / Courtesy of Netflix

The actor noted that his character who goes through a phase of setting into a new environment will draw empathy from viewers.

"The situation Joon-ho is put in and how he steps into a new world, called the military, is portrayed delicately, so I hope viewers can immerse themselves in the story," he said. "Many people will be able to sympathize with the scenes where he enlists and says goodbye to his family."

The director emphasized that making the series relevant was key in adopting the original webcomic.

"The underlying message from the original comic was important. The original work was simple and dark but had depth. So we wanted to keep the depth but had to be flexible to make it more convincing and universal," he said.

He also hinted at the chemistry between Joon-ho and the head of his team, Corporal Han Ho-yul (Koo Kyo-hwan).

"Joon-ho has the innocence of a boy and Ho-ryul is like a young adult but is still maturing. So it's interesting how they come together," he said. "They just have different styles of acting and as they collide, it stirs up the chemistry between the two characters."

"D.P." is set to hit the streaming site on Friday.

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