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| Actor Lee Jong-suk, left, and actress Han Hyo-joo pose for a photo during a press conference at the MBC headquarters in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap |
By Park Jin-hai
At a time when the star-studded "Uncontrollably Fond" on KBS is suffering from an unexpected fall in viewership, MBC aims to take the crown with the new romantic thriller "W," which will premiere Wednesday.
Starring actor Lee Jong-suk and actress Han Hyo-joo, "W" deals with crossing over from the real world to a world of another dimension. Actress Han, who plays the role of Doctor Oh Yeon-ju in the real world, meets actor Lee, who plays an Olympic gold medalist and media mogul Kang Chul in the webtoon world called "W" and both find life's purpose.
Song Jae-jung, who wrote the sci-fi romance drama "Nine: Nine Time Travels" and won big acclaim for his original story plot, scripted "W," and Jung Dae-yoon, whose earlier jobs included the romantic comedy "She Was Pretty," joined as director.
The 16-episode drama is based on a reader falling into the cartoon world and falling in love with the cartoon character. And the character realizes that he is a virtual cartoon character and not real, the cartoon character then goes beyond the control of the cartoonist.
Actress Han, who returns to the small screen six years after the period drama "Dong Yi" (2010), says the script is the reason she joined the drama.
"I've been away from drama for a long time. So I thought that if I were to do a drama again, it has to be a dramatic one and W is the one," said Han during a press conference at MBC headquarters in central Seoul, Monday. "When I finished reading the first chapter of the script, I couldn't wait to see what came next. The drama's genre is also very unique."
Lee, who has become a hallyu star by starring in successive hit dramas, including "Pinocchio" and "I Can Hear Your Voice," agrees. "Any actor who has seen the script would have wanted to be a part of it. It's a script that you only get once in a life time."
Director Song says it's a story of a man and a woman who discover their raison d'etre while living in different dimensions in Seoul in 2016, "There's suspense, horror, comedy and romance."
"W" will premiere on Wednesday at 10 p.m.
