Joy takes lead in feel-good rom-com 'Once Upon a Small Town'

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Mon, October 2, 2023 | 13:10

Shows & Dramas

Joy takes lead in feel-good rom-com 'Once Upon a Small Town'

Posted : 2022-09-06 16:30

Updated : 2022-09-07 16:25

From left, actor Chu Young-woo, director Kwon Seog-jang, actors Park Soo-young and Baek Sung-chul pose during an online press conference for the KakaoTV series "Once Upon a Small Town," Monday. Courtesy of KakaoTV

New KakaoTV series is romantic comedy between policewoman, vet

By Lee Gyu-lee

Singer and actor Park Soo-young, who is also known as Joy of K-pop girl group Red Velvet, is having a busy year juggling both singing and acting. Following the group's mini-album release, "The ReVe Festival 2022 ― Feel My Rhythm," the singer-cum-actor has taken the lead in the new KakaoTV original series "Once Upon a Small Town."

"I'm proud to say that I've dedicated the whole summer of my 27th year to making such a beautiful piece like this, together with the staff, cast members and director," Park said during an online press conference for the series, Monday.

Based on the web novel of the same name, the romantic comedy series follows the country life of policewoman Ja-yeong (Park) and veterinarian Ji-yul (Chu Young-woo) in a small town called Huidong.

Ja-yeong, who is born and raised in Huidong, knows her way around the town and its people. Whenever the residents need help, she's always there, solving all the different problems. One day, she meets her polar opposite, a big-city guy, Ji-yul, who is visiting the town to temporarily run his grandfather's veterinary hospital.

The 12-part series is directed by Kwon Seog-jang, whose previous work includes the hit romance series "Pasta" (2010) and is written by scriptwriter Paek Eun-kyoung.

"Ja-yeong is a Huidong native and takes care of all the complaints that the residents bring in. She's a local police officer who loves the town," Park said as she described her character.

"I thought I was an innocent person but Ja-yeong is much more innocent and purer. She's like a clear crystal ball. It looks like it's easily breakable but is actually strong and cool."

She added that she went to stunt school to prepare action scenes for her role, adding that the high-spirited police officer's character inspired her to be more outgoing.

"Since there are scenes where I have to take down men as a police officer, I went out to practice at the stunt school," she said. "The similarity between the character and me was about 50 percent. I'm not the kind of person who goes running around like Ja-yeong, I'm rather introverted. But as I filmed the series, I've become more spirited. So I'm thankful for the character."

The director shared that the series will have feel-good moments set in a charming countryside location that will provide a sense of warmth.

"I tried not to add anything superficial. I tried to bring out the natural sense of the story instead of making things up," he said. "And the cast members did a good job in delivering that."

He expressed satisfaction with the cast members and their performance.

"The age range of the actors is younger (than in my previous works) so I was worried at first. But as time passed, they became more true to their characters and their chemistry was good too. So, I was relieved," he said. "I think I had a prejudice against K-pop singers but (Park) is good at portraying delicate emotions. She did a good job in following my direction."

"Once Upon a Small Town" releases each episode from Monday to Wednesday on KakaoTV and also streams on Netflix.

gyulee@koreatimes.co.kr