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| From left, actors Yang Kyung-won, Im Yoon-ah, Lee Jong-suk, Ok Ja-yeon, and Kim Joo-hun pose during an online press conference for the MBC's new series, "Big Mouth," Friday. Courtesy of MBC |
By Lee Gyu-lee
The actor Lee Jong-suk, who is known for playing the protagonist in romance series like "While You Were Sleeping" (2017), has taken on the lead in the new hardboiled, noir genre series "Big Mouth," making his small screen return after three years.
"At first, I was given scripts for four episodes and it was very gripping. You get swept up in the case and it makes you curious about the next episode," Lee said during an online press conference for the series, Friday.
MBC's new series, which kicked off on Friday, revolves around struggling lawyer Park Chang-ho (Lee), who has a low win rate of 10 percent.
When he takes on a murder case, he gets entangled in a situation where he gets mistaken for a major con-man, dubbed Big Mouth. Caught in a dark, corrupt world that threatens his life, Chang-ho digs into the case and tries to take down the criminal to save his family and his wife, Go Mi-ho (Im Yoon-ah).
The crime series is led by star director Oh Choong-hwan who directed various hit series like "Hotel Del Luna" (2019) and "Start-Up" (2020).
The director noted that the series will draw the viewers into the story with cliffhanger moments.
"The large theme of the story is important but this is an 'interesting series' that the viewers can enjoy watching. Out of all the series I've led, this is the one that will get viewers hooked onto the series the most and to want to watch the next episode," he said.
Lee previously worked with director Oh in the 2017 romance series "While You Were Sleeping." He expressed he joined the series with faith in the director.
"I've always wanted to do another piece together. And we've decided to work on a type of piece that we've never done before, so I joined it as I have faith in director Oh," he said. "He always tries to set a pleasurable filming environment. The role that I've taken is very difficult but I've enjoyed working on it."
The actor expressed excitement to work with Im as a married couple for the series.
"This is my first time playing a married man and because we are close and have known each other for a long time, it was exciting," he said.
Im, who plays the nurse, added that she was impressed by Lee's acting.
"I was very impressed by Lee's sense of detail in portraying the character. It was such a shame that we didn't have many scenes to be on set together, but we could pour in our affection when filming the flashback scenes," she said.
"Big Mouth" airs Fridays and Saturdays at 9:50 p.m. and is also streamed on Disney+.
