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.
Lee Joon-ho, Lim Yoon-a reinterpret cliche-ridden rom-com genre in 'King The Land'
Actors Lim Yoon-a, left, and Lee Joon-ho pose during the press conference for JTBC's new romantic comedy series “King The Land," held at a hotel in Guro District, Thursday. Courtesy of JTBC
By Lee Gyu-lee
By Lee Gyu-lee
Actors Lee Joon-ho and Lim Yoon-a are finally set to debut in JTBC's new romantic comedy series “King The Land," Friday.
Led by director Im Hyun-wook, whose previous work includes the melodrama series "Reflection of You" (2021), the new series is a Cinderella story between a rich heir of a conglomerate group called Gu Won (Lee Joon-ho), and a hotelier, Cheon Sa-Rang (Lim Yoon-a).
Cheon worked her way up, becoming a hotelier at the King Hotel, originally starting as an intern. After seven years of hard work, she finally gets the opportunity to work at the hotel's VVIP lounge. Gu, a new arrival to the group's hotel chain, becomes Cheon's new boss, the unlikely duo then go on to develop a romance.
“There's a saying 'What you already know is the best.' I know that 'King The Land' might be a little cliche and classic. But we tried to reinterpret the scenes that might seem unoriginal to make them fresh. There are scenes that are not cliched,” Lee said during the press conference for the series, held at a hotel in Guro District, Thursday.
Lee plays the character of a smart, charismatic heir who seems to have everything but good dating skills. He hates fake, superficial smiles so when he meets Cheon, who smiles at all times when at work, the two keep clashing with each other.
A scene from the series “King The Land” / Courtesy of JTBC
Lee and Lim shared the fact that they wanted to take part in this role as it had a different tone than their previous respective work ― the period melodrama series “The Red Sleeve” (Lee) and the crime thriller series “Big Mouth” (Lim).
“With 'The Red Sleeve,' I feel like I've been on an emotional rollercoaster. So I wanted to take a project where I could just empty my mind and that is filled with love and laughter,” Lee said.
Lim also expressed excitement about taking on her first romantic comedy series.
“I think this is the first time I've taken an actual romantic comedy series. My previous work had a deeper tone so I wanted to take a light-hearted character that has a completely different tone. Also, I felt people like it more when I took this type of character so it weighed on my decision,” she said.
She added that she tried to be more flexible with her character. “This character needs to smile all the time, so it reminded me of myself with my career, thinking 'I also had to be like this,'” she said. “For this character of Cheon Sa-rang, I tried to let loose as much as I could. In the series, Sa-rang is most herself when she's with her friends.”
The two hinted that the main difference of the series to other rom-coms is their chemistry.
“Lee and I have had music careers around the same time but this is the first time we've met as actors,” Lim said. “(For the rom-com genre) chemistry is the most important thing. So what sets us apart is our chemistry. In that sense, we hit it off on opinions on characters and romance scenes so we worked it out pretty well.”
Lee also added it was comfortable to work with Lim. “It felt like we were back in time (to when we were younger) and sharing conversations. It was comfortable like I've met an old friend,” he said.
“King The Land” will air Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 p.m.