By Lee Gyu-lee
Actress Go Youn-jung has expressed huge satisfaction with her latest role as an athletic high-schooler, Jang Hui-soo, in Disney+’s Korean original series Moving, saying she shares a lot of similarities with the character.
“I’ve always wanted to play a character that is similar to my real personality. And Hui-soo was it,” she says in an interview.
“I got the script for the first time at the audition for the role. I didn’t have enough time to prepare or grasp the backstory. But because the character seemed to have a similar personality and way of talking as me, the script felt very comfortable to read. That’s how much the character resembles me.”
The series is led by Park In-je, who directed the second season of Netflix’s hit series Kingdom, and scripted by the original creator Kang.
A nun exercises God-given right to snoop in BBC’s Sister Boniface Mysteries
A nun exercises God-given right to snoop in BBC’s Sister Boniface Mysteries
Go plays a newly transferred student, Hui-soo, who has excellent athletic abilities. Like her father, Jang Ju-won (Ryu), she has a supernatural power to heal herself from injuries.
The actress says everything about the character, from the way she speaks to expressing emotion, resonated with her.
“We are similar in that we both tend not to show our feelings overtly and are tough,” she says. “I heard that Hui-soo was the only character that writer Kang had a hand in. From what he said, the low, husky tone of my voice suited the character well.”
The big-budget series garnered huge anticipation before its release on August 9. Go is confident that the series will be a hit.
“I expected Moving to be popular. Kang is a famous writer and I know director Park’s previous works. And not only the writer and the director, all the big-name actors that I’m familiar with are starring. So I thought there’s no way this won’t work,” she says.
The actress felt some pressure when she found out about her co-stars.
“I got the role fairly early on [in pre-production] through the audition. I had no idea about other actors … And when I found out later on, I felt I should really do this role well.”
The first seven episodes of the 20-part series came out on August 9, and will be followed by two episodes every week.
The actress hints that the coming episodes will have more dynamic action, a deeper story and new characters appearing.
“Everyone sacrifices themselves for others; dad for his daughter, the daughter for her friends, the friends for their family. And Hui-soo grows a lot from it. The word ‘moving’ also means touching and the later part of the story shows that aspect,” she says.
“The set will be bigger [in the later part of the series]. And the action sequences are more colourful. There are a lot of characters who have not yet appeared so I hope you look forward to that as well.”