(continuing from interview ③) Actor Ryu Hae-joon spoke candidly about the ending of "Scarecrow."
Recently, at the OSEN office in Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, a wrap-up interview was conducted with Ryu Hae-joon, the lead actor of ENA's Monday-Tuesday drama "Scarecrow."
"Scarecrow" is a crime investigation thriller set in the influential period of 1988, in which a detective investigating the true culprit of a series of murders unexpectedly forms a cooperative relationship with a man he hated.
In the final episode of "Scarecrow," which aired on the 27th, Kang Tae-Ju (Park Hae-soo) was shown directly revealing the real names of the accomplices who concealed the body of murder victim Yoon Hye-jin (played by Lee A-rin). But Cha Si-young (Lee Heejun) never admitted his wrongdoing to the end, and accomplices Jang Myung-do (Jeon Jae-hong), Do Hyeong-gu (Kim Eun-woo), and Park Dae-ho (Ryu Hae-joon/Park Won-sang) also received no punishment due to the statute of limitations expiring.
Ryu Hae-joon expressed trust in the production, saying, "I think it's a conclusion that reflects reality to some extent. I believe everyone involved and those who watched it feel the same. But if you glamorize it too much, even though it's a drama, it could differ from the message we want to convey, the director's message, so I think it ended up like this. The writer and director had been conceiving the work for a very long time and revised it a lot, so it seemed that everyone who participated trusted it without a doubt."
He also spoke about the 30 years that Park Dae-ho went through after taking part in concealing the body, saying, "I talked a lot with the director," and "Because we had to prepare the tone for the final episode, at first it was 'Dae-ho, this will happen,' then it changed to 'it changed like this,' and it changed again, and the writer and director agonized a lot. They really worried about how to handle those points for each role. Then when they told us what was decided at the end, it was so shocking that my heart was strained and complicated both when preparing and when acting."
When asked how he felt when he first saw the ending, Ryu Hae-joon said, "Reading it on paper felt heavy. Having participated directly and prepared for a long time, when I saw the final part of the work it was shocking yet I read it in an instant with real immersion. I was dazed, and I felt a complex feeling that couldn't be easily defined. Perspectives differ, so each viewer will feel differently. That's something to be grateful for. Opinions were divided about Dae-ho as well. Some said, 'He's just the same kind of person,' while others defended him. Seeing that made me grateful, thinking that people enjoyed it and were really immersed in it."
Regarding how he would like viewers to view the ending, he said, "Actually, our intention is to deliver a message of hope or a positive direction. Personally, while viewers will look from different perspectives, I hope our work is not one that is consumed and forgotten. 'They went through such a rough and difficult era, and that's why we live like this now.' Also, there are many other crime thrillers or dramas about serial killers. I hope this one still has distinguishing points, that it's really fun and the immersion is top-notch, and that people can recommend it to those around them as a drama that isn't a waste of time."
[Photo] OSEN reporter Park Joonhyung
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