Actor Park Hae-soo felt the popularity of "Scarecrow."
On the 26th at the BH Entertainment building in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, a wrap-up interview was held with Park Hae-soo, the lead actor of the ENA Monday-Tuesday drama "Scarecrow."
"Scarecrow" is a crime investigation thriller set in the 1988 Gangseong era in which a detective investigating the real culprit of a series of murders forms an unexpected cooperative relationship with a man he despises. After performing well with a 4% viewership in its first week on air, "Scarecrow" surpassed 7% by episode 6 and instantly rose to become ENA's second-highest rated show ever. (Nielsen Korea, nationwide paid households standard)
Park Hae-soo, who led the work as Kang Tae-Ju, said, "I live a grateful, happy life. I think this is the first time I've really felt on my skin how much people love me," adding, "People recognize me a lot even at the local Starfield," and "I didn't even know the concept of being popular; I just hoped many people would watch it. I thought that as many people watch it there might be people who struggle as well, but many more people watched and liked it than I expected. Seeing people feel frustrated and upset with me, I felt, 'we're going together,'" conveying the show's popularity.
He continued, "(People around me) asked me a lot who the culprit was, but I never told them. I said, 'I want to catch him too.' Some people asked from really close quarters. Like my wife," and he added, "I only told my wife. I told her, 'Keep it absolutely secret.' My older sister is a powerful member of a moms' cafe, so I thought it would be a big problem if I told her, so I absolutely did not. My parents watched it very curiously. They really loved it a lot. In the early part they were very curious, and in the latter part they felt frustrated and pitiful," he said, drawing laughter.
The real culprit Lee Yong-woo's identity was Lee Ki-hwan (played by Jung Moon-sung), who was also Kang Tae-Ju's friend. Park Hae-soo had portrayed scenes since episode 1 in which he meets Lee Yong-woo while wearing elderly makeup. He said, "The prison visitation scenes between Lee Yong-woo and me were shot later in a concentrated schedule. I memorized most of the lines and shot it like a play in three to four days. Dramatically, the show kept Lee Yong-woo's identity unknown until the early part, but I acted while actually seeing him. What I regret most is that viewers couldn't see actor Jung Moon-sung's face at that time. I hope I can show it if there's a chance later. Only then can you understand why Kang Tae-Ju draws a line and talks like that," and praised, "I think we filmed that scene by going that deep and provocative. Actor Jung Moon-sung acted so creepily well."
In particular, AI technology was used in the early episodes to prevent the culprit's voice from being identified by synthesizing the voices of Lee Heejun (playing Cha Si-young) and Jung Moon-sung. Park Hae-soo said, "We kept manipulating many people's voices so that we could consider various options," and "The director said this: he tried mixing the voices of our male actors in various ways over Jung Moon-sung hyung's voice, but in the end Jung Moon-sung hyung's voice wins. However, when only Heejun hyung's voice is added, it fits well. Heejun hyung's voice seems to provide an energy that can slightly cover it. So they mixed the two voices," sharing the behind-the-scenes story.
However, separate from identifying the real culprit, the fact that Cha Si-young and Jang Myung-do (played by Jeon Jae-hong), Do Hyung-gu (played by Kim Eun-woo), and Park Dae-ho (played by Ryu Hae-joon/Park Won-sang), who concealed the body of murder victim Yoon Hye-jin (played by Lee Ah-rin), do not truly repent or pay for their crimes until the end leaves a bitter aftertaste. Responding to this ending by saying, "I'm very satisfied," Park Hae-soo candidly said, "I feel like it's the best we could do. If we had gone to the next step, viewers might quickly forget it."
When asked how he hoped viewers would feel about the ending, he said, "I wonder what it would have been like if such things hadn't happened. If such things hadn't happened, what would have happened? I hope those regrets exist. I hope people think about what should be done to prevent this from happening again. At the end there is a scene where Kang Tae-Ju falls asleep. He sleeps properly for the first time. Then a dream appears, depicting a moment when these things didn't happen. I hope viewers feel heavy about that part and watch it with a 'if that had been the case, things would have been different' feeling. Although this work will be forgotten after time passes, I also hope people think about whether this should be forgotten," he expressed.
He added, "What this work ultimately talks about is what kind of people lived in that era and what pains the Gangseong people experienced. I think it wants to tell not only the victims' stories but also the stories of the people around them who suffered. There are central characters, but I think it wants to talk about the people who reacted because of them, and I think those aspects were well shown up to the final episode, so I'm pleased," he said. (Interview ② continues.)<
[Photo] BH Entertainment
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