(continuing from interview ①) Actor Kang Tae-oh dreamed of a "best couple" award with singer-actor Kim Se-jeong, who he paired with in Moon River.
MBC's Friday-Saturday drama Moon River (written by Jo Seung-hee, directed by Lee Dong-hyun, abbreviated "Moon River") concluded after airing episode 14 (final episode) on Oct. 20. In it, Kang Tae-oh gave a passionate performance as one of the title roles and the male lead, Lee Gang. Accordingly, I met him at a cafe in Gangnam, Seoul, and talked about the work and his recent activities.
Moon River is a soul-change, role-reversal (易地四肢) romance fantasy historical drama about Crown Prince Lee Gang (played by Kang Tae-oh), who lost his smile, and assistant magistrate Park Dal-yi (played by Kim Se-jeong), who lost her memory. The fantasy premise of the crown prince, who lost his wife and his smile, and the assistant magistrate Park Dal-yi, whose soul is exchanged after losing her memory, unfolds a romance that transcends the statuses of prince and commoner against a modern yet buoyant historical drama backdrop.
Thanks to that, Kang Tae-oh and Kim Se-jeong were nominated for best couple at the 2025 MBC Drama Awards. Kang Tae-oh said, "The director and Se-jeong mentioned in our group chat that reactions were good. It felt nice, but I jokingly said let's not count our chickens before they hatch. Of course it would be wonderful if we won. An award itself carries a good meaning, and receiving it would feel really, really great. Beyond that, the fact that posts appeared in the group chat shows there are many people who like our couple. That alone makes me very happy and I would gratefully accept it. I'm grateful as things stand now."
Because of the soul-change premise, Kang Tae-oh said he worked hard to show the swapped souls with Kim Se-jeong. He explained, "Like singers who record songs and have others imitate them, I asked her to record lines and send them, and I kept reading them as if listening to a song. That's because I wasn't just using the dialect; I had to use Se-jeong's manner of speaking. Chungcheong dialects can vary quite a bit, but I had to use Se-jeong's speech, so I only followed her dialect. I even mimicked the stresses as if practicing English."
Kang Tae-oh added, "I also did the reverse. When Kang-i snaps, I slightly scratch my (throat). Se-jeong tried to copy that. It's difficult for a woman's vocal cords to do that, so she struggled a lot when producing that rough throat sound." He emphasized, "If my partner had been difficult, it would have been hard, but Se-jeong had an open mind, boundless energy, was amicable and passionate, so communication was smooth without issues. We worked well together and she showed a lot of consideration. She loved both Kang-i and Dal-yi, and watching that taught me a lot."
He added, "It became a pressure in reverse. When Se-jeong would come and act, I would watch the monitor and feel like I had to do even better, so as a joke I said, 'Don't make it look burdensome.' That made me try harder. I didn't want to be a hindrance to my partner. I think I became more conscious and worked harder."
(continuing from interview ③)<
[Photo] Provided by Man of Creation.
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