Director Min Jin-ki paid tribute once again to the late actress Park Ji-a.
Director Min Jin-ki conducted an interview at a cafe in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 17th. He discussed the recently concluded ENA drama 'Salon de Holmes'.
'Salon de Holmes' is a comic romance action drama that depicts four women united as apartment problem solvers who punish apartment villains, including a former ace detective, an insurance king, and the queen of part-timers! The drama is adapted from a novel of the same name. Particularly, this drama achieved its highest viewership rating of 3.6% during its 10th episode (final episode), which aired on the 15th, receiving favorable reviews. As a result, Season 2 has been quickly confirmed.
While airing to great acclaim, 'Salon de Holmes' gained even more attention due to Park Ji-a's performance in the middle of the broadcast. Park Ji-a passed away on September 30 of last year after battling a cerebral infarction. She was 52 years old at the time. Notably recognized as Moon Dong-eun's (Song Hye-kyo) mother in the Netflix series 'The Glory', she also performed in various works including 'Dear Hongrang', 'The Old Woman with the Knife', and 'Salon de Holmes' remains her last work.
In honor of Park Ji-a, a special tribute video was produced and released as a posthumous work. Regarding this, the deceased actress's younger brother recently expressed gratitude through his personal social media, saying, "Thank you to the director and staff of 'Salon de Holmes', and to actors Nam Ki-ae, Lee Si-young, and all the other actors for leaving us with good memories and recollections. I believe my sister would be pleased in heaven."
How was the special tribute video, which touched the bereaved family, produced? Director Min Jin-ki said, "I personally cast Park Ji-a. I saw her when I went to watch the play 'Wife'. Actor Oh Yong, who played the role of the managing officer in 'New Recruit', performed in that play. When I went to see Oh Yong, I met Senior Park Ji-a and immediately proposed the role of Choi Seon-ja in 'Salon de Holmes'. The actress said, 'I've really wanted to do such a role. I've only been doing strong characters.' So we deliberated together and she sent her own costume and hairstyle ideas for discussion and decision."
He further confessed, "It seemed that during the filming, Senior was working on 'Dear Hongrang' and another project concurrently. When she came to our filming set after shooting her part, she would always sit beside me and say, 'I really love this project.' and engaged in many conversations."
Director Min Jin-ki particularly emphasized, "Even though she was unwell, the truth is that if a colleague is sick, everyone feels the impact. Knowing how much the senior valued this project, I couldn't lose focus. With a heavy heart, I visited her in the hospital. When she saw me, she shed tears. I said, 'You have to get up. You need to watch the broadcast.' When she passed away after enduring difficult times last year, I wanted to make it even better since it was the deceased's last work, hoping that many actors will remember her name 'Park Ji-a' a little more as we worked on it."
He said, "We contemplated how we could commemorate her in a way that reflects us. Most people leave a line in the credits in the first episode, but that didn't feel right to us. I wanted to pay tribute in the episode where she performed the best, which was the 8th episode. In that episode, we included a message remembering the deceased and requested materials from her agency to create a video summarizing the life filmography of actress Park Ji-a, which was officially posted on the ENA channel. While the broadcast had a message, the tribute video was released on our YouTube account. We made sure that many people could remember the actress 'Park Ji-a'."
Additionally, he stated, "In the final ending shot of Episode 10, we usually work on having 'Character 00 played by' at the end, but we added 'the late actress Park Ji-a' to the ending still cut. This is because it will be re-broadcasted a lot. I wanted people to think, 'Oh, that senior was here.' Many remember her as Moon Dong-eun's mother in 'The Glory', but I think she put in a lot of effort to raise awareness for her character and as an actress."
[Photo] OSEN DB, provided by ENA
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