 Actress Choi Ji-woo speaks during a press conference for "Can't Lose" at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul, last week. / Courtesy of MBC |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Hallyu princess Choi Ji-woo returns to the small screen as a divorce lawyer in the new MBC drama with the working title of “Can’t Lose,” starting today.
Choi is known for portraying tragic heroines with a pure, innocent image in melodramas including the hit “Winter Sonata” (2002). “Can’t Lose” is her first challenge in romantic comedy. This also is the first time Choi will play a married character.
“I’ve had the same image for 15 years. Isn’t it time for me to break out?” Choi said with a smile at a press conference last week. “I was a melodrama queen and now I want the title of romantic comedy queen.”
“Can’t Lose” is a remake of the Japanese drama “The Sasaki Couple’s Merciless Battle” and features a lawyer couple — Eun-jae and Hyeong-woo — facing their own divorce suit. Unlike other romantic comedies that start from how the couple met each other, “CanLose” begins with the couple married in a rush and now seeking divorce.
Choi said that her character Eun-jae at home resembles her ordinary days. “She looks like me at home. All women, they don’t dress up at home and show their most relaxed form in front of their family, don’t they?” the actress said.
Her counterpart Yoon Sang-hyun (“Secret Garden,” 2010) admitted that he was uncomfortable with Choi at first. “When I read the script, I usually can imagine how the actor would portray the character, but it was hard to think of Choi playing such an ordinary character. However, when we started filming, I realized that she was quite free and easy (in her manner),” Yoon said.
Choi said she is trying to be comfortable on the set with her co-star Yoon. “We are husband and wife in this drama and we need to be close with each other,” she said. “Once, I yawned without covering my mouth and Yoon told me to put my hand over my mouth before doing so.”
While she may be the more veteran actor, the drama is her first romantic comedy in which her co-star helps out a lot. “Yoon is a cut above the rest in romantic comedies and he helped me better understand the situation and fine-tune my character,” Choi said.
Yoon emphasized the importance of the situation. “I don’t want to be good at ‘comedy.’ It’s not about telling jokes or slapstick comedy. The well-knit situations make the drama fun,” he added.
“Can’t Lose” airs at 9:55 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday on MBC.
