The Scarecrow production staff mentioned factors behind the show's success.
On the morning of the 27th, a joint interview with The Scarecrow director Park Jun-woo and writer Lee Ji-hyun was held at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
The Scarecrow is a crime investigation thriller about a detective investigating the true perpetrator of a series of murders who unexpectedly forms a cooperative relationship with someone he despises, and the work is motivated by the Lee Chun-jae serial murder case. The Scarecrow, which concluded the day before, ended on a high note, setting its own record with nationwide ratings of 8.1% and 8.3% in the Seoul metropolitan area.
That day the production staff spoke about why the perpetrator in The Scarecrow was revealed quickly. Writer Lee Ji-hyun said, "There are many meanings that The Scarecrow implies, and I think we borrowed those meanings differently. From episode 1 until the perpetrator is revealed, Yong-woo, who commits murders while pretending to be a scarecrow, is the scarecrow; after Lee Ki-hwan is revealed, I wanted it to mean a different scarecrow."
The writer said, "The public authority that failed to catch the perpetrator can be a scarecrow, and Tae-ju, who could not catch the perpetrator or save the victim, can be a scarecrow. In the latter part, after the perpetrator is revealed, we discussed letting other scarecrows drive this piece."
The protagonist Tae-ju is also a figure who could not set right the Seok-man and Hye-jin cases in The Scarecrow. Writer Lee Ji-hyun said, "The message I wanted to convey through Tae-ju is that everyone sometimes finds it difficult to make the right choice. But if you continue to make wrong choices, you become a scarecrow. I wrote it hoping that someone would appear who decides to make choices as a human going forward."
Director Park Jun-woo said, "If Lee Chun-jae had not confessed, Mr. Yoon Seong-yeo and the case of Hyun-jeong would not have been known either. There was an irony in telling the decisive statements and circumstances of the true perpetrator. That made me decide to do the drama."
Director Park said, "I don't know Lee Chun-jae well, but I thought he lacked continuity and was hard to understand logically. He cries a lot when his younger sibling dies, yet in front of friends he cries and then appears triumphant and even boasts about crimes. I didn't think this person played a decisive role," adding that he had concerns about casting Jung Moon-sung.
Jung Moon-sung drew attention by portraying both the young and old versions of Lee Yong-woo (Lee Ki-hwan), who commits murders. In particular, the scenes in 2019 where Kang Tae-ju meets again and the perpetrator Lee Ki-hwan appear alternately attracted attention.
Director Park said, "We wanted to cast No-yeok instead of actor Jung Moon-sung, but then he said he would withdraw. Actors Park Hae-soo and Jung Moon-sung filmed that scene for two days. Actually, I would have wanted to give that scene exclusively in one day, but since we were filming other scenes as well, it took two days; they did very well and were excellent. The staff seemed to watch the acting duel between the two with great interest."
Asked why viewers seemed to be enthusiastic about The Scarecrow, director Park Jun-woo said, "I think people of my parents' generation or the actors' parents' generation liked it because they lived through that era, and younger viewers liked it because of the unfamiliarity they haven't experienced. I think being faithful to the genre's grammar was a factor. The fact that a traditional investigative drama in the early part is rare these days also seems to be a reason."
[Photo] Studio An Jileun, KT Studio Genie
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