Actor Son Suk-ku has shared his chemistry with Kim Da-mi in 'Nine Puzzles.'
On the afternoon of the 5th, an end-of-series interview with Son Suk-ku, the lead actor of the Disney+ original series 'Nine Puzzles,' took place at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
'Nine Puzzles' is a mystery thriller that delves into the secrets of a reemerging serial murder case accompanied by puzzling clues, where Lee Na (played by Kim Da-mi), the only witness of the cold case from 10 years ago and a current profiler, collaborates with Han Saem (played by Son Suk-ku), a detective of the violent crimes unit, who continues to suspect him. Son Suk-ku plays detective Kim Han-saem from the 2nd Violent Crimes Team of the Seoul Han River Police Station.
On this day, when asked about his impressions of working with Kim Da-mi, he explained, "From the beginning, she was clear about the character she wanted to play. Early on, Da-mi was already very firm about what she wanted to do, while I was not sure. So when I was uncertain about what to do, she gave me many ideas. She suggested very detailed and small things, saying, 'How about trying this gesture?'"
He recalled, "In the middle, after setting up a base camp at Han Saem's house, I took the lead a lot. It was also my home. Since Han Saem was established as a cheerful character at the beginning, it was easy to bring an element of surprise. It seems serious, but there is more room to go in various directions than with Lee Na, so I contributed a lot of ideas then. By that time, I was comfortable, and when we filmed episodes 9, 10, and 11, it was like going on autopilot."
He added, "I remember that. After filming, I thought, 'I feel like I did something strange. Can you watch the monitor and see how it can be improved?' and they would reply, 'I think it would be better to do it this way.' So, I also told the director, 'Da-mi suggested doing it this way; can we re-shoot it?' I filmed it with a lot of anticipation." He also noted about Kim Da-mi, "While I can say Da-mi is not like that, she doesn't really like unnatural things. There are no superficialities. She is straightforward."
On the other hand, the character played by Kim Da-mi, Yoon In-na, is somewhat lively and has a cartoonish aspect. When asked if it was difficult to synchronize with the contrasting character of Kim Han-saem, Son Suk-ku replied, "It wasn't difficult. In fact, the first script I felt was closer to a much more rigid character focused on investigation, with a limited emotional range. To create chemistry with Lee Na, I became somewhat more cheerful, being honest about my feelings and becoming a more transparent person."
He continued, "I actually thought that Han Saem was a very cartoonish character. While the visible appearance or mannerisms might make In-na seem more cartoonish, I didn't feel that way when conversing, excluding the costume and the cartoonish props."
Notably, until the middle of the story, Kim Han-saem continued to suspect Yoon In-na as the perpetrator while maintaining their collaboration. He shared, "That was my biggest concern, and I discussed this with the director. I think the director integrated a lot of his directorial intentions into this part. We started with a relationship of suspicion, but we did not want to maintain that too long."
He mentioned, "In fact, in a mystery genre, we could maintain a relationship of suspicion even with the same lines of dialogue until episodes 7 and 8. However, the director intended to resolve that early and quickly establish collaboration. From then on, many special appearances suspected of being the perpetrator would appear, so we decided to quickly work as one team to investigate. Until that was established, there were a lot of worries. There were other suspects, but should we continue to treat In-na as the main suspect? In the end, it was the director's decision, and I think it was the right one." (Continued in interview②.)
[Photo] Disney+
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