Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Sehun takes on teen-romance role with 'All That We Loved'
From left, actors Oh Se-hun, Jang Yeo-bin, and Jo Joon-young pose during the online press conference for the Tving's new original series “All That We Loved,” Wednesday. Courtesy of Tving
By Lee Gyu-lee
By Lee Gyu-lee
Singer and actor Oh Se-hun, who is better known as Sehun of the K-pop boy band EXO, has taken on his first teen-romance role with Tving's new original series, “All That We Loved,” playing the role of an athletic, truehearted high school student.
“When I read the script for the first time, it was very interesting. I was studying my character, Go Yoo, and this person has so many different charms. Although it's acting, I wanted to become such a charming person through Go Yoo,” the actor said during the press conference for the series, Wednesday.
The new series, set to release Friday, follows the friendship and love lives of two best friends in high school ― Go Yoo (Oh) and Go Joon-hee (Jo Joon-young). Yoo is a carefree, outgoing student who is the top basketball player in his school. Always taking care of his weak best friend, Yoo donates a part of his kidney to Joon-hee.
But since the transplant, Joon-hee suffers from cellular memory syndrome, in which the recipient gets the donor's memories transferred through cells of the transplanted organ. Their friendship is put to the test when the syndrome leads Joon-hee to fall for Han So-yeon (Jang Yeo-bin), the girl Yoo has a crush on.
“I can't pinpoint just one thing that makes (Go Yoo) attractive. First, he is a basketball prodigy. He's playful and full of energy, like his age. But he's also such a cutie to his grandmother and lovely to his friends. He's also good at fighting and is loyal. I deeply fell for this perfect Go Yoo,” Oh described his character.
A poster for the series “All That We Loved” / Courtesy of Tving
He added that playing the high school character, wearing a school uniform, brought him back to his own high school years.
“It's been a while since I wore a uniform … Filming the series in school made me feel like I was back in my high school years and playing with my friends. So I could be carefree and enjoy filming the scenes,” he said.
“I was always the youngest wherever I went. But as time passed, I've come to work with people who are younger (than me). At first, it was a bit overwhelming. So my first task was to figure out how I can get close to them. So we would meet up to eat and text each other a lot to become close to them quickly. So it felt comfortable by the time we started filming.”
The series' director Kim Jin-sung shared that the concept of cellular memory syndrome will bring a different dynamic to the oft-trodden teen-romance theme.
“What's different about our series from other previous teen series is that it includes cellular memory syndrome (as a theme). We tried to put a fantasy element to bring out the bromance of the two lead actors more,” he said, adding the theory will make the story more colorful.
“Previously, teen-romance series usually targeted the younger generation. But we have a grandmother and parents as well. It incorporates all generations, which makes our series unique.”
Jo also shared that the series will feature more than a romance story between friends.
“The series not only looks at ordinary romance story and high school life of the characters but there's also the heart-wrenching story of families,” he said.