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| Actors Jang Ki-yong, left, and Song Hye-kyo pose for pictures during the press conference for the series, "Now We Are Breaking Up," streamed online Tuesday. Courtesy of SBS |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Actress Song Hye-kyo is set to lead another romance series with SBS's upcoming melodrama, "Now We Are Breaking Up," two years after playing the main role in the tvN romance series, "Encounter."
"I thought the script for this series was really interesting. Many people were looking forward to seeing me star in a new melodrama, but some still might wonder why I'm doing a melodrama again," the actress said during the press conference for the series, streamed online Tuesday.
"But as I get older, I think there are differences involved in expressing characters in the genre. So I wanted to join this series because I believed it would be different (from my previous works)."
Directed by star director Lee Gil-bok, who led the smash-hit romantic comedy series, "My Love from the Star," and the medical series, "Dr. Romantic," the new series follows the love life of three female friends from high school who are in their 30s.
Song's character, Ha Yeong-eun, is a passionate and professional leader of a design team at a fashion company. She's a realist and believes she's had enough experience in romance to avoid getting caught up in the emotional roller coaster of love life. But one day, she encounters a good-looking freelance fashion photographer, Jae-gook (Jang Ki-yong), who proves her wrong.
The series is written by scriptwriter Je In, who wrote JTBC's suspense romance series, "Misty."
"Yeong-eun is a passionate person about love and work. She is very capable in what she's doing professionally," Song described her character. "She also keeps healthy relationships with the people surrounding her and is very wise. As I played this character, I was able to learn a lot from her."
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| Scenes from the series / Courtesy of SBS |
The 39-year-old actress emphasized the realistic portrayal of a love life that involves whirlwind romance and messy breakups.
"Compared to my previous work, 'Encounter,' which was about a fairytale romance, 'Now We Are Breaking Up' is realistic," she said. "The character is about the same age as I am. So there are a lot of parts of the story that people in my age can resonate with. It was fun to play this character because there were a lot of moments that could've actually happened in real life."
The director said that he intends to tell a story of people's lives through love and breakups.
"The series deals with the story of life through how people love and go through breakups. The backbone of the story revolves around the characters in their 30s, but we didn't want to limit the story to specific ages," Lee said. "We tried to show the realistic romances of people of various ages and capture heartwarming stories through the actors' delicate performances."
This series was the last work for Jang, who plays Song's romantic counterpart, before he joined the mandatory military service in August. The press conference was pre-recorded before his enlistment and was streamed online on Tuesday.
"I think it was a huge stroke of luck to be able to star in this project before joining the military," he said. "I like the script and was curious about the love story (it tells). I believed that I could show a more mature version of my acting since I've turned 30, so I wanted to take the part."
"Now We Are Breaking Up" is scheduled to premiere on SBS on Friday at 10 p.m.
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