Actor Ha Yoon-Kyung explained her analysis of the character Go Bok-hee, whom she played in Undercover Miss Hong.
Ha Yoon-Kyung held an interview about the conclusion of the tvN weekend drama Undercover Miss Hong (directed by Park Sun-ho, Na Ji-hyun / written by Moon Hyun-kyung / planned by Studio Dragon / produced by Celltrion Entertainment, Studio Dragon) on the 6th at a café in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
Undercover Miss Hong is a retro office comedy drama set at the turn of the 1990s, about 30-year-old elite securities inspector Hong Geum-bo (Park Shin-hye) who goes undercover as a 20-year-old low-level employee at a securities firm where suspicious funds have been detected, and Ha Yoon-Kyung played Go Bok-hee, the company president's secretary at Hanmin Securities, a consummate social operator.
Go Bok-hee had become individualistic because of family and personal matters she wanted to hide, but she grew alongside her roommate in room 301, revealing a warm inner side. Viewers found her human charm annoying yet impossible not to love.
The show premiered on Jan. 17 and aired its final episode on March 8, ending a 16-episode run. When asked about her feelings on the conclusion, Ha Yoon-Kyung said she initially felt 16 episodes would be long, but it felt short on air. She said she was disappointed and wished they could have had one more week. She added that her parents also felt it ended quickly and were disappointed, but she felt proud that it wrapped up well.
At the time of the interview 14 episodes had aired, but ratings had already surpassed 11.8% (Nielsen Korea nationwide ratings). On the high ratings, Ha Yoon-Kyung said she was grateful and surprised that people liked it so much, and that she had made a pledge which was now a big deal. She said she was laughing and crying at the same time, that she felt so good yet regretted mentioning the pledge, which involved dancing, and that she felt like she could dance it 100 times because she was so happy.
About Go Bok-hee, Ha Yoon-Kyung said, "First of all, Bok-hee is an embezzler. She is a criminal, an unlikeable and irritating character, so I thought about how to make such a character convincing and melt the viewers' hearts. She shouldn't be too annoying, nor should she be too good. I wanted to approach her in a way that made it convincing why she had to become that way. To make people care, there needed to be moving moments in how she treated people and in her sincerity, so I tried to balance those elements."
Asked whether she prepared Bok-hee's distinctive gestures or speech, she said, "Bok-hee is the character in this drama who can best express the era. The late 1990s are not very different from now. At least Bok-hee is a character who can show more symbolic aspects like makeup. I wanted to make her as iconic as possible. I hoped that when people think of Miss Hong, Bok-hee would come to mind. But I thought being excessive could be worse than not doing it, so I aimed for gestures and speech that were unique yet felt familiar. I approached it by asking what gestures and makeup would suit the personality, and made it that way."
Ha Yoon-Kyung also spoke about intonation: "There was debate about whether there is a Seoul dialect or not. In interviews they all use Seoul dialect, so people say those features appear because it's an interview, and it's not clear. There was an agreement within the drama not to strictly verify Seoul dialect. But aside from the era, the way I made Bok-hee's speech was that 'this friend is capitalist and can switch social masks, and can freely create speech patterns.' I don't usually use rising sentence endings, but Bok-hee is a friend who wants to appear as bright and positive as possible, so I often raised sentence endings. I think those were the parts I created."
On the difference between Hong Geum-bo and Go Bok-hee, she said, "The Hong Geum-bo character is someone who departs from the era's image of women. Bok-hee is a woman who conforms to the era. She represents women who started as low-level employees who were expected to be called 'Miss Go' and to serve coffee." She added, "Showing that friend's growth and change seemed to be the drama's theme, so I wanted to make that gap bigger. I made her an image of someone who would not allow a single hair out of place and who would fit herself into a uniform, to show whether the character changes."
How much did the 'social-life master' Go Bok-hee and Ha Yoon-Kyung have in common? She said, "A similarity is being polite to elders. That similarity made it comfortable. I thought I should approach Bok-hee as if dealing with elders. I know how to avoid making elders uncomfortable, and applying that to Bok-hee's social life made it easier. Elders like someone who is polite and meticulous, so I tried to apply those traits. I think that's a similar point."
When asked about Bok-hee's charms she felt while acting, Ha Yoon-Kyung laughed and said, "On the surface Bok-hee is tsundere and prickly, but she is generous in expression. She doesn't hold back saying she likes or trusts someone. She never spares expressions; she might be stingy with money, but she can be generous in ways that don't cost money."
[Photo] Hodoo&You Entertainment
[OSEN]