Actor Im Yoon-ah revealed her presence and had her abilities recognized through Bon Appetit, Your Majesty.
In the tvN weekend drama Bon Appetit, Your Majesty, which ended on the 28th, Im Yoon-ah gave a passionate performance as Yeon Ji-young and perfectly held the center of the story, capturing all three successes of acting ability, topicality and ratings. The drama was directed by Jang Tae-yu, written by fGRD, planned by Studio Dragon, and produced by Filmgrida and Jung Universe.
Bon Appetit, Your Majesty is a survival fantasy romantic comedy about a chef who time-slips to the past at the height of their career and encounters the worst tyrant, a king with absolute taste. Bon Appetit, Your Majesty, which premiered on the 23rd of last month, succeeded in captivating viewers with the actors' passionate performances and flavorful dishes, reaching a peak rating of 17.1% (episode 12) and concluded with episode 12 broadcast on the 28th.
Im Yoon-ah, who played Yeon Ji-young in the drama, turned her desperate struggle to survive the sudden time-slip into a sly comic performance that produced laughter, and she portrayed the tense romance with the tyrant with absolute taste, Lee Heon (Lee Chae-min), with delicate emotional acting that excited viewers. Also, to preserve the drama's emphasis on food as a core element, she performed 95% of all cooking scenes herself without a double, maximizing the show's immersion.
With Im Yoon-ah's activity, Bon Appetit, Your Majesty surpassed a peak rating of 15.8% (Nielsen Korea) and topped Netflix's non-English TV shows chart, creating a domestic and international "Bon Appetit, Your Majesty" syndrome. Following Big Mouth and King the Land, Im Yoon-ah achieved three consecutive hits with Bon Appetit, Your Majesty, recording five consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the TV-OTT drama performer topicality category, solidifying her position as a "box-office queen."
Im Yoon-ah said about why she chose Bon Appetit, Your Majesty and how it differed from other works, "Since I was young I have been very interested in food and cooking. I like watching cooking shows and wanted to be good at cooking, so in that respect the cooking theme was interesting, and I thought I could enjoy playing a chef role. You might say there were similar works or that it feels common, but I think the difference is that cooking acts as the medium so much that you can say the cooking is the protagonist of Bon Appetit, Your Majesty."
About Yeon Ji-young, whom she played, Im Yoon-ah said, "The character Yeon Ji-young is spirited, bold and wise, so even if she faces a new environment I thought she wouldn't be flustered and would be able to walk her own path, and I wanted that part to be well expressed. To match her personality, I practiced cooking steadily and a lot so that when people watch they can immediately immerse themselves in the skills this person has."
Regarding the essential cooking elements, she said, "There were scenes done by a hand double, but I tried to do almost everything myself. From the moment I first received the script they sent me a list of cooking-related works, so I watched those, watched cooking competitions and practiced alone, but I felt I couldn't do it alone so I started attending a cooking academy. I also received plating and Western-style training from chef Shin Jong-chul," and she added, "When demonstrating the dishes appearing in the drama from start to finish, I went and offered ideas, learned the process and took time to catch on. Because of this time, I understood and internalized the cooking process and tried to do as much as possible on set. Even if a hand double did it, there were parts that had to be captured with me doing them directly on camera, so I tried to do them exactly the same from start to finish."
Lovely yet comic scenes such as taekwondo and "Come Back Home," which were judged to be things only Im Yoon-ah could do, were highlights. Im Yoon-ah said, "Even if it's exaggerated, trying as much as possible yields good results. I try not to be shy and attempt things; for me that was taekwondo and 'Come Back Home,' and Lee Chae-min had expressions of taste. Watching each other pull those off, we said, 'That's really great.' There were moments where we felt each other's expressions were amazing." She added, "I thought the lyrics of 'Come Back Home' fit Yeon Ji-young best. It was a scene in the script, and I suggested changing the final lyric to 'And my mangunrok was gone' and they liked it, so we changed and sang it. During rehearsal I wanted the masters to blend in, so I criticized that there was 'no rhythm,' and I added small details by hitting bowls like instruments. The director is open to ideas and ad-libs, and if he thought something was good he even rewrote the script, so the set was a place where actors freely shared ideas and created without holding back."
Because of this passion and effort, Im Yoon-ah's acting has been praised for stopping viewers from changing the channel and providing immersion. Im Yoon-ah said, "I think there are my own expressions that come out unconsciously. As I do works, I gain understanding as an actor, and I think viewers have their own understanding. If it leans too much to one side so only the actor understands, it won't reach viewers, and if viewers understand but the actor can't accept it, there's a problem. With each work I set a point that this level of explanation needs to be shown so viewers can follow the emotion. So I always approach things sincerely and express the given material in my own way with my own charm. When that matches the character, it seems to coexist and be shown well. It's hard to say when a turning point was; I've always done the same, but as experience accumulates, unnoticed growth of my own seems to occur. So like people love Bon Appetit, Your Majesty, I think viewers notice those accumulated growths."
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