Actor Won Ji-an, who played Ikeda Yuji in the Disney+ series “Made in Korea.” Photo HIN Entertainment
Actor Won Ji-an, who appears in the Disney+ series “Made in Korea” (hereafter “MainKo”), shared her thoughts on delivering performances across two works that even felt unfamiliar to her mother.
On the 19th, at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, Won Ji-an met with “Sports Kyunghyang” and shared behind-the-scenes stories about the series, which wrapped its first season on the 14th.
In the series, she plays Ikeda Yuji (Korean name Choi Yu-ji), the Japanese partner of Baek Ki-tae (Hyun Bin), a Central Intelligence Agency section chief who ventures into the philopon business. As a woman who maintains her charisma as the No. 2 figure in Japan’s largest yakuza organization, she shows a side of Won Ji-an not previously seen.
Around the same time, she also took on the role of Seo Ji-woo in the JTBC drama “Waiting for Longitude,” which concluded on the 11th. In that work as well, Won Ji-an portrayed a broad character arc spanning from the early 20s to the late 30s.
A scene featuring actor Won Ji-an as Ikeda Yuji in the Disney+ series “Made in Korea.” Photo The Walt Disney Company Korea
Won Ji-an said, “I haven’t had many experiences like this,” sharing her thoughts on the near-simultaneous release of the two works, and added, “I was only grateful. People around me found it fun. My mother, in particular, found it unfamiliar.”
She added, “My mother speaks Japanese well, so after it was released, she even asked, ‘Does it seem like you’re doing well?’ and checked the reactions.” “She still saw Seo Ji-woo as relatively similar, but when the yakuza member Ikeda Yuji appeared, she found it very unfamiliar and was amazed, asking, ‘How can they come out at the same time?’”
“Made in Korea,” starring Won Ji-an, is a work by director Woo Min-ho, who has portrayed human figures roiling with desires for honor and advancement, money and power in films such as “Insiders,” “The Drug King,” “The Chiefs of Namsan,” and “Harbin.”
Set in the 1970s, it depicts a showdown between a man who wears two facesas a Central Intelligence Agency section chief and a philopon entrepreneurand a prosecutor who throws everything away to catch him. Season 1 concluded on the 14th, and Season 2 will be released in the second half of the year.
