Actor Ji Chang-wook candidly shared his thoughts on the mixed reactions to the open ending and plausibility of The Manipulated.
On the morning of the 11th at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, a closing interview with Ji Chang-wook, the lead actor of the Disney+ original drama The Manipulated, was held.
The Manipulated is an action drama in which Tae-jung (played by Ji Chang-wook), who lived an ordinary life, one day is unfairly embroiled in a heinous crime and sent to prison, and then discovers that everything was planned by Johan (played by Doh Kyung Soo) and carries out revenge against him.
When Ji Chang-wook mentioned the plausibility issues that had been consistently raised since the drama was released, he opened up, saying, "I guess such likes and dislikes are unavoidable. No matter what work you do, there will inevitably be likes and dislikes. In fact, although likes and dislikes are inevitable, it felt like a process of reducing the 'dislikes.' If there is a certain concept, someone will find it interesting while someone else will find it boring or preposterous. How can we tailor this well to the public? We had many of those kinds of tasks and meetings."
He said, "The Manipulated actually had the task of 'how can we effectively express a familiar taste.' How can we imprint our own tone and manner on people so they can watch through to the later parts without discomfort? Because of that, we had many meetings with the director in the early episodes. 'How does tone and manner work in prison?' 'Prisoners smoke — would people accept that when they see it? Wouldn't it seem like a lie?' We asked each other such questions and found our tone. It may be seen as lacking plausibility, but within the genre of our work, I thought that might be the plausibility. It would be great if there were no 'dislikes,' but the fact that there are 'dislikes' also means those people watched it. We did our best," he emphasized.
He also shared his thoughts on the ending. Ji Chang-wook said, "Looking at the works I've done so far, my tendency made me think it might be better to have vengeance fully carried out. I imagined scenes like killing Johan or truly decisive revenge, but from the start the writer described Tae-jung as 'a person who touches soil and gives life.' The writer wanted him to be like a tree, and that was a major challenge from beginning to end. What is a way not to harm someone? Still, there are many action scenes. I asked the director about that a lot. Tae-jung is a person who saves lives, so to what extent should the action be, and though he is in a position of revenge, in front of a villain how much and how far should violence be used, and how should that be expressed — I was most curious about that. Because of that I struggled a lot and debated most with the action director during action scenes," he lamented.
He went on, "In the end he does not kill Johan, and Tae-jung hoped that Johan would fully receive the punishment for the crimes he committed. I thought that revenge might be not that Tae-jung wants Johan to suffer or to kill him, but that 'I want that person to fully pay for his crimes,'" he explained.
Regarding the suggestive ending that seemed as if Ahn Yohan were alive, he said, "Honestly, I was worried that the ending felt too open — 'Is this okay? Could it seem cheesy in some ways?' But when you actually watch it, it didn't feel that way at all. It made people more curious and imaginative. So I was satisfied. I also liked how the character Johan was portrayed until the end," he expressed with satisfaction.
However, reactions continued suggesting the open ending was meant with season 2 in mind. When asked whether there had been any talk about season 2, Ji Chang-wook replied, "There has been none at all." When asked if he would like to participate if season 2 were made, he said, "A person's feelings can change from having none to having some. Honestly, this was a very taxing project and I don't want to do action for a while," but added, "If they propose season 2 again, I would be very grateful. If my work does well enough to become a seasonal series, that's something an actor should be thankful for. If season 2 is offered to me, I think I'd feel very good."
When he was told viewers were disappointed that the romance with Pyo Ye-jin (song Soo-ji), who appears as the girlfriend in the work, was too short, Ji Chang-wook said, "I was a bit disappointed too. Personally, I'm a little sorry that there wasn't more story about the girlfriend afterward — what if there had been more? We filmed too briefly, so they met and broke up before they got close. I wondered what it would have been like if there had been more, if there had been a narrative. That made me a bit disappointed."
He continued, "When the script first came out and during the making process, several versions were revised. In fact, there was a scene where Pyo Ye-jin appears later. That was removed. After I escaped from prison on a motorcycle, the first person I went to find was the girlfriend. There's a scene where they meet briefly at a distance, but those parts were reduced. I think that was the director's choice in the directing process," and added, "The melodrama with No Eun-bi (played by Jo Yoon-soo) resulted from many discussions about whether to go further or pull back. Even if it's not strictly 'Eun-bi and Tae-jung are in love,' I thought the warm feeling that allows the audience to imagine it is just right and entertaining."
[Photo] Disney+
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