Humanity runs through 'Pachinko': cast, director

The cast members of Apple TV+ original “Pachinko,” pose during the premiere event of the series in Los Angeles, March 16 (local time). From left are Jin Ha, Youn Yuh-jung, Kaho Minami, Jimmi Simpson, Anna Sawai, Kim Min-ha, Lee Min-ho, Jung Eun-chae, Noh Sang-hyun, Jeong In-ji and Soji Arai. Courtesy of Apple TV+

By Lee Gyu-lee

• Published Mar 21, 2022 5:08 PM KST
• Updated Mar 22, 2022 4:19 PM KST

New Apples TV+ series cast members share behind the scene of making epic saga

By Lee Gyu-lee

Apple TV+'s new original multilingual project “Pachinko” is no doubt one of the most anticipated series of this year with its big-name cast members, starring Oscar-winning actress Youn Yuh-jung and actor Lee Min-ho.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Min Jin Lee, the eight-part series tells the story of a Korean immigrant family across four generations from the perspective of Sunja (Kim Min-ha), the family's matriarch. The story starts from the early life of Sunja, born to a hard-working family in the southern port city of Busan during the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-45), to the later years of her life, building up a life for her son, slot machine (pachinko) parlor owner Mozasu (Soji Arai) and Wall Street whiz kid Solomon (Jin Ha).

The series is created and written by Soo Hugh and co-directed by Kogonada and Justin Chon.

The epic historical saga touches on the devastation, tragedy, and survival of Koreans under Japanese rule as immigrants struggling to find a sense of belonging in a foreign land while holding onto their roots.

Actress Youn, who plays the main character Sunja in her older days, shared that the series has taught her a lot about Korea's history and about Zainichi heritage, a term referring to ethnic Koreans who moved to Japan during the colonial rule.

“It was actually my first time hearing about Zainichi. I asked Soji ― a third-generation Zainichi ― if it was a derogatory term and he said there's a sense of pride in that word. It refers to Korean Japanese who are proud of their Korean heritage,” Youn told The Korea Times. “(Through working on this series) I came to realize how important it is to learn history. I don't know how many times I've cried hearing about the stories from that time.”

Sunja is a tough and wise woman who manages to go through a series of obstacles throughout her life, becoming pregnant to a married man, Hansu (Lee Min-ho), and moving overseas to raise her son.

Youn expressed that she felt connected to her character.

“Life is a series of choices. Like choosing who to marry or date, it's all about making choices. Sunja had the toughness that came from trying to survive and in some sense, I felt that we are similar,” Youn said.

Ha plays a Zainichi Korean, Solomon, who studied and works in America. To win an upper-level position, he returns to Japan to score a major deal ― to purchase land owned by a Korean woman.

The Korean-American actor also shared that he could relate to his character.

“The ways that I feel similar to Solomon are in his experiences of not fitting in and of wanting to assimilate whether that's in Japan or America,” he said.

“(But in the ways we're different,) I think he's trying to forget the trauma of his past and his family's past. But for me, maybe I started out that way ― to fit in ― but now at my age, I feel a lot more connected to my roots. And I feel that we need to, in order to heal, go back and reflect on where we came from and where our parents and grandparents came from in order to understand where we stand now and how to move forward in a more healthy way.”

The story moves back and forth between the time of Sunja's days as a young adult and her as an older woman in the 1980s.

Actress Kim leads the storyline of Sunja's early days with a delicate performance portraying the character's vulnerability and strength even under constant repression during the Japanese occupation.

Kim, who earned the role through four months of auditions, said she immersed herself in the character throughout the production.

“I just tried to be Sunja instead of making something up to look a certain way. I just focused on the feelings and thoughts she has in each situation. The important thing the directors told me was to live and breathe in the moment. And this direction helped me the most, more than anything,” she said. “There was more of a sense of responsibility than the pressure in delivering the story of not just Koreans but of a woman, daughter, mother and lover.”

The actress shared that she conversed with Zainichi Koreans to prepare for her role and was shocked to hear their story.

“Since I didn't go through that time period, I asked a lot of questions on how it was…the stories about Zainichi from the book were very shocking so I asked if they were true and they said it was,” she said. “They said there's no distortion or exaggeration about the story so it shocked me even more.”

Lee, who plays young Sunja's lover and Zainichi Korean fish broker, Hansu, added that he felt the weight of portraying a character from a devastating time in Korea's history.

“Every work tries to capture reality but this series was different in terms of its depth. I tried to focus on understanding the emotion and sentiment of the people from that era,” he said, adding the series showed him new experiences and meant a lot to him.

“We are grateful to live in this era. Back then, there were no choices and no room to dream of a better future … I could empathize with the things Hansu says and the decisions Sunja makes,” he said. “I tried to look at the images from that time and what devastated me was that there were no pictures of Koreans smiling. It hurt to see that there were no hopes and dreams but only those who are pushing along with their lives.”

Although the series follows the story of Koreans, the showrunner, Hugh, and director, Kogonada, noted that it is a universal story of humanity.

“There's no doubt that Sunja is the anchor of the story but it's also about humanity in general,” Hugh said. “There's an episode told from Hansu's perspective and another episode is about a child getting his dad taken away … it's Sunja's story but there's also a broader scope to it.”

Kogonada added that the series captures the perseverance and endurance that people as family still go through.

“I think this story is specific to Korean history, but it is also deeply universal. Even today, we know that people are being displaced, and families are having to make choices on how to survive. And this is a common story throughout history,” he said. "So we knew that this would be a story for everyone because it's an ongoing quest for perseverance and endurance as a family."

Hugh hinted that there will be another season of the series, adding that there are more stories to tell from the book than just the eight episodes of the first season.

“Pachinko” will hit the streaming platform on Friday, on which the first three episodes will premiere. Following that, each episode will be released every Friday.