tvN new Saturday-Sunday drama "Typhoon Family" Lee Junho is expected to bring another ratings storm to living rooms with a character that fully captures the spirit of the era and sincere acting.
tvN new Saturday-Sunday drama "Typhoon Family" (directed by Na Jung Lee and Dong-hwi Kim, written by Hyun Jang, planned by Studio Dragon, produced by Imaginus, Studio PIC and Tris Studio) depicts the struggling coming-of-age story of novice company man Kang Tae-pung, who suddenly becomes the president of a trading company in 1997 with the IMF crisis. As one of the most anticipated works of the second half of the year, Lee Junho shared the efforts he made to fully embody Kang Tae-pung himself.
Lee Junho plays Kang Tae-pung, who overnight becomes the rookie president of a trading company. Although he did not experience the IMF as an adult, he felt the atmosphere of that time through his parents and said, "Both of my parents worked, and I remember how everyone nationwide joined efforts to overcome the crisis, including the gold collection campaign." He added that the story will resonate with viewers living in the present: "It is a story that everyone living an uncertain tomorrow can relate to. I hope everyone who lives each day happily and resolutely will cry, laugh, empathize and find comfort while watching "Typhoon Family." He emphasized that the work can reach everyone beyond a specific generation.
Kang Tae-pung, as he saw him, is an extremely transparent character who is honest with his emotions and has no falsehood. "I think he is a character with a very wide range of emotions that goes through joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure, so I tried to capture many aspects within one work," he said, showing his mindset toward taking on a new challenge with "Typhoon Family." He paid particular attention to styling and details to evoke 1997. "I wanted to express the hipness and sensibility of the time," he said, adding that he looked for popular items such as leather jackets, denim-on-denim fashion, walkers, boots and earrings, and referenced the styles of famous celebrities of that era to create the character's visual.
More than appearance, the part he worked hardest on was expressing Kang Tae-pung's humanity. Based on the thought "who would you want by your side at the hardest time?" he carefully built the character's facets and said, "I acted with the desire that he be a good older brother who is there when someone is struggling, a reliable husband and head of household when needed, or a son who stands by his family. I also wanted Kang Tae-pung to be someone you would want as a boss or a teacher." This makes the arrival of Kang Tae-pung, a character who will deliver resonance beyond a mere period piece with sincerity, all the more eagerly anticipated for the small screen.
Lee Junho said that sets that seemed to transport 1997 intact greatly helped him immerse himself in the role. The actors' costumes, hair and makeup were 1997 itself, and when filming nightclub and broadcast station scenes, every location incorporated elements of that era as if archival footage had been moved into the set, which naturally made him think, "I am in 1997." He explained that the realistic details deepened Kang Tae-pung's breathing and emotions. Expectations are already building for what kind of typhoon-like response the intense survival story—born from the combination of spaces that seem to have captured the spirit of the era and Lee Junho's sincerity about the character—will create.
Through the passionate survival stories of ordinary people who kept their places and did not stop living even in a time when the crisis that struck Korea felt like the end of the world, tvN new Saturday-Sunday drama "Typhoon Family" will offer warm comfort and courage to someone going through a hard moment today. The drama, which follows the popular "Bon Appetit, Your Majesty," will premiere on Oct. 11, Saturday at 9:10 p.m.
[Photo] tvN
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