Korea-Japan joint drama targets global audience
.jpg?w=728)
Japanese actress Juri Ueno, left, and Korean actor Choi Seung-hyun of hip-hop boy band Big Bang pose during a press conference for the Web drama series “Secret Message” at the Imperial Palace Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of CJ E&M
By Kim Jae-heun
Can Korea and Japan’s entertainment giants captivate global audiences through a new platform?
Korea’s leading media content company, CJ E&M, has launched a joint Web drama series, “Secret Message,” with Japanese entertainment company Amuse Inc. and global messenger Line Corp., targeting an international audience.
The drama, scheduled to premiere on Nov. 2, stars Choi Seung-hyun, also known as T.O.P, of hip-hop boy band Big Bang, and Japanese actress Juri Ueno in leading roles. Popular Korean and Japanese actors Yoo In-na, Jeong Yu-mi, Saki Fukuda and Keisuke Koide also star in the global project to attract fans from not only East and Southeast Asia, but also the Americas and Europe.
“Secret Message” sketches a romantic story between Korean student Woo-hyun, played by Choi, and Japanese girl Haruka (Ueno), who both suffer a painful history in love. The drama has 18 10-minute episodes. It will be shown every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 p.m. on Naver TV Cast in Korea, dTV in Japan and Line TV in Thailand and Taiwan.
“All the cast here are those I had in my mind first when I planned to direct this series,” director Lee Seung-hoon said during a press conference at the Imperial Palace Seoul, Wednesday. “I thought the new Web drama platform would provide good access for an audience to watch from all over Asia.”
Lee is confident Westerners will find the drama interesting enough as he grew up watching Hollywood films and studied to produce content that Americans and Europeans find entertaining. He picked the concept of a love relationship between a couple from different countries as a key point that 20 and 30-somethings can also enjoy, while previous Web dramas were mainly for teens, starring young idols.
Choi’s return to the small screen for the first time in seven years heightened expectations for “Secret Message” as he has a large fan base as a member of Big Bang, who just finished a world tour. Choi last appeared in a television drama as mysterious assassin Vick in “Iris” in 2009.
“I feel a great responsibility in this drama and I put in the hardest effort to present the best possible in just 10 minutes,” Choi said. “The story is very common ― sometimes happy and sometimes sad. This drama is successful if the audience can feel what I felt while acting the character Woo-hyun.”
Ueno said she was not able to communicate well with Choi due to her poor Korean, but she caught what he was thinking as she started playing Haruka.
“Although we are all different nationalities, I hope the audience can share the same emotions,” Ueno said.