(continuing from interview ②) Actress Park Eunbin said it is "too soon" to talk about season 2 of The Wonder Fools.
On the morning of the 22nd, an interview with Park Eunbin, the lead actress of the Netflix original The Wonder Fools, was held at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
The Wonder Fools is a supernatural comic adventure set at the end of the 20th century in 1999, about neighborhood fools who accidentally gain superpowers and struggle to protect the world against villains who threaten the peace.
In the work, Park Eunbin plays Eun Chaeni, a teleportation-powered character who had given up on everything while living with a congenital heart disease since childhood, and then gained superpowers. She said, "Stylistically, I wanted to show that she is a famous troublemaker in Haeseong City. Early on, Chaeni's tension when she shouts that she wants to see the end was of course the worst-case troublemaker look, and after that she gains a new life and becomes lively. Even so, she still wants to maintain the 'troublemaker' reputation, so I suggested that style from the start," sharing a unique behind-the-scenes detail.
She said, "The wig was a hairpiece that wasn't root-dyed, and I am grateful they made it look natural. Just from the back or side view, I imagined a look that could be called 'back smash.' I thought it would be good if it was clear that her grandmother is famous in the neighborhood and that there were reasons to call her the troublemaker granddaughter. I gave many opinions on the costumes and showed various styles, and they prepared them as is and even made the '10:20' hair deliberately asymmetrical. I actually like symmetry, but I thought asymmetry might suit Chaeni better. If it had been only 10:15, it would have made me uneasy, so I tried hard to match those connections," she explained.
Park Eunbin said, "I wanted to persuade people that someone like this could exist in Haeseong City. Even if the speech and behavior are completely different from mine, I thought it was the actor's duty to make people accept that 'someone like this could exist,' and I enjoyed the work of separating that completely from myself. Things I couldn't do as Park Eunbin become possible when I meet a character, and the world becomes much bigger. This was a work where I could be loudly expressive without restraint and show many immature sides," she said.
She went on to lament, "I wanted to be catlike but ended up a little puppy, and that's partly my fault." Park Eunbin said, "When we first set the temperament, I talked with the director about whether a catlike mindset would work. The director, who is a cat owner, suggested it could be a self-centered attitude where what is good for oneself is also good for others. As I tried to portray that, I was often told it seemed puppy-like. People probably don't change. Chugumi is a cat at heart but has a puppy face, so I want to try other cat types. I like dogs, rabbits, and cats, but I don't actually have much upturned eye tail. Yet people see it that way. Why is that?" she asked, prompting laughter.
When asked whether her recent frequent portrayals of distinctive characters reflected her personal tastes, Park Eunbin said, "My tastes are always changing. I received many different offers and laid out many possibilities, and because I chose works based on timing, luck and what appealed to me at the time, people may have felt that pattern unintentionally. Seeing roles that require you to do or show something made me understand why people might think that way. Of course I also want roles where I don't have to do anything. For some time now, I have felt grateful to experience diverse things and take on various jobs as an actor. To avoid getting tired, I want to keep trying different things going forward," she said.
She appealed, "People often ask me why I take so many challenging roles, and I acknowledge that they are challenges. But I don't think of them as challenges myself; I think of them as trying something once, an attempt to keep learning what suits me and what kind of work fits me. If it matched your taste, I'm truly grateful, and if it didn't, please give me another chance."
Saying she likes the sci-fi genre, she said, "Although I've worked since I was young, a world where I could appear in sci-fi felt distant when I was a child, so it was a genre I mainly enjoyed. As time passed and the era changed beautifully, I was able to appear in sci-fi and show a superhero side at the end, and I was grateful for that. We actually built an airship and kept inflating it during filming; in the end Chaeni makes a decision and takes on the mission of moving with this hydrogen bomb airship to successfully protect these people. When we shot that, I felt a sense of duty that I should disappear well for some reason. I appreciated having that emotional experience. After watching the screener, I remember telling director Yoo In-sik, 'Thank you for making me a hero,' and I felt proud," she said.
But she said the genre had many difficulties. Park Eunbin said, "This time there were physically demanding scenes. It was a role that used the body a lot, so we did a lot of exercise on set. I had many experiences I hadn't had before, which was enjoyable, and of course there were difficult scenes that were hard, but I had decided to take this genre and role, so I was prepared. It felt like a set where everyone professionally did their best in their assigned tasks," she said.
About the teleportation scenes in the work, she said, "Teleportation is instantaneous but some scenes were shot months later, so I had to maintain the tension. Even when the shot changes, I had to keep the continuity natural, so I paid a lot of attention to that. We also checked connections diligently. It took a long time. Personally, I love the 팔도유람 scene. That scene used an LED panel behind it, but we also actually went there, and I hoped people would watch that under-one-minute scene several times because all our efforts are concentrated in it," she appealed.
She also shared difficulties, saying, "Actually, I tried almost every kind of wire action this time. I experienced being suspended in so many different positions that I thought, 'So you can hang a person like this.' The harness inside, which is an auxiliary device for the wire, was tougher. It has to fit snugly on the person so there's no play and they fly well, so it had to be tightened. That part was difficult," she said.
The Wonder Fools, born from such efforts, has been generating expectations for season 2 partly because of the final ending credit scene. But Park Eunbin candidly said, "I think it's still too soon to talk about season 2. First, I hope people give it lots of love. I hope many people watch it; it has just been released and there is time, so I thought it would be wiser to think about what comes next depending on how much accumulated affection is shown," she said. (to be continued in interview ④.)<
[photo] Netflix
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