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| Actor Park Hae-soo plays the role of Berlin in Netflix's new Korean series "Money Heist: Korea ― Joint Economic Area." Courtesy of Netflix |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Following his global breakout role as a smart, cunning player in Netflix's "Squid Game," actor Park Hae-soo has taken on another memorable role in the platform's new series "Money Heist: Korea ― Joint Economic Area."
The Korean remake of Netflix's smash-hit series "Money Heist" revolves around a gang of thieves, led by a criminal mastermind known as "the professor," who take over the mint of a newly unified Korea while holding hostages inside.
Park plays the role of Berlin, the most wanted man in North Korea who escaped one of the rogue state's internment camps. He is the charismatic second-in-command of the gang, and instills fear in others to bring them under his control, which causes conflict among the hostages and the criminals inside the mint.
"The biggest thing I focused on in playing the role of Berlin was trying not to imitate (the original character). I tried to portray the character in a devoted and serious manner," the actor said during an interview with The Korea Times via video chat, Tuesday.
He expressed that the different backstory of the character from the original series gave him space to create a distinct character.
"When I read the script, I could see the parts of the character that I can portray differently, and because he had a different subplot, I wanted to approach it like that," he said. "Also, it starred so many actors that I like so I really wanted to join. The role of Berlin is very attractive so I wanted to take the challenge."
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| A scene from Netflix's Korean production "Money Heist: Korea ― Joint Economic Area" / Courtesy of Netflix |
The actor shared that he researched real-life cases of internment camps to understand the complex past of his character, growing up behind bars for trying to escape the country and resorting to violence as a way of survival.
"I've always taken interest in issues regarding the divided peninsula and war refugees since I was doing theater… So I wanted the character to be the most realistic," he said. "And in order to portray (the character) realistically, I looked up videos and stories of people from North Korea's internment camps. I tried to bring out the character's situation and the story he went through in my acting."
The series, which debuted on Friday, topped the streaming charts in 11 countries, including Singapore, Korea, and Vietnam, and ranked third on the overall chart, Monday, according to streaming analytics platform FlixPatrol.
The actor said he has been monitoring feedback from viewers since the series premiered.
"I'm not usually the type to look at reviews but I did with this series. And there was both positive and negative feedback. I guess I was curious about the approach and tempo of the viewers, nowadays, with regard to consuming content," he said, adding that his favorite comment complimented his portrayal of the character.
"Because this series clearly has the original series that it can be compared to, we expected split reviews. We accepted it as the series' fate. Of course, it can't be compared to the original work so we tried to unfold the series with the story that we wanted to tell."
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