Ahead of its Netflix launch, the lead pair and director of Doona! share insights and preparations for the series.
In Doona!, you can dive into the unexpected romance between Lee Doona, a reclusive former K-POP idol, and Lee Won-jun, a grounded university student whose life revolves around tangible realities.
Doona! springs from a globally revered webtoon, published in eight languages. The esteemed Director Lee Jung-hyo, known for gems like Crash Landing on You and Romance Is a Bonus Book, crafts this series, promising an autumn filled with romance.
At its core, Doona! is about exploration, allure, and healing. As Doona, an idol retreating from the limelight, and Won-jun, engrossed in life’s practicalities, converge in a shared house, the series captures their evolving understanding of one another. Director Lee describes their journey as “two individuals from disparate worlds immersing in each other’s realms.”
Doona! resonates with the clumsiness and awkwardness of young love. Director Lee hopes the series evokes memories of bygone days, replete with vulnerabilities, first love, and youthful transformations.
The Lead Stars’ Preparation
Conveying her thoughts about the drama, Suzy remarks as being in sync with her character and describes the duality of Lee Doona.
“Doona wants to live an ordinary life but also wants to be special.“
Suzy also shares how she paid attention to her hairstyle when she was preparing for her character.
Director Lee echoes the same and asserts how he only had Suzy in mind for the role.
“Only Suzy can pull it off. She has to sing, dance and act. She never showed her tiredness to us. When I offered the role, I really told her that I wanted her to do it.”
Likewise, Yang Se Jong assures the chemistry his character has with Doona. He confesses how Suzy helped him settle in the story.
“She really helped me focus so I could be immersed into my character because she did well as Doona. We had a really nice chemistry we just need to look at each other and we will have a common understanding.”
Talking about the first meeting scene, Suzy reckons her emotion in that scene came from Doona’s emotion that she knew Won-jun was harmless.
Yang Se Jong responds with how he thinks every moment of Won-jun’s heart fluttered starting the first moment he saw Doona.
Director Lee’s Creative Process
Expounding more on the creative process for Doona!, Director Lee mentions watching the entire series would take viewers to the conflicted thoughts of Doona.
Known for his romance series, he said how he prioritized the chemistry of the characters to bring out the romantic energy well.
“Sometimes the feelings and vibes are different. it is important to communicate with the actors. If they talk more, they become closer to each other.“
Regarding the role of Won-jun, Director Lee relays how Yang Se Jong is perfect for the role because Won-jun goes through an array of emotions.
“As I talked with him, he really felt like Won-jun. Won-jun’s character has the biggest emotional change. I would ask him what he feels about it. I love how Sejong works on his character. He is honest and hardworking. In order to capture the emotional nuances, he is so focused.”
Speaking of his character, Yang describes him as a perfectly ordinary college freshman. He is in his 20s and has his own responsibilities. He does not want to get close to Doona initially. But later on, he becomes closer to her.
He also focused on the emotions of Won-jun and the story. Thus, he followed the script strictly.
“I think the fact that there’s a lot of thoughts going on in his mind is the same as mine but the naivety is not. I approached Won-jun’s character in focusing about Doona because the dynamics of communicating with her helped bring out Won-jun’s character.“
In understanding her character, Suzy affirms how her connection with Won-jun helped her understand Doona’s emotions more.
“While the characters are in their early 20s, Doona feels like she knows how to handle things and figured out her life. At times, when Won-jun says something, Doona would realize she is not aware of her emotions.”
Press Q&A
When Suzy was asked about the pressure coming from her lauded portrayal of Anna, she responded not burdened since she portrayed two different characters.
“Instead of saying challenges, I would like to say it is exhilarating. Director Lee mentions she worries about how Doona had a lot of smoking scenes. To portray her I think cigarette is one of her trademarks. I am a little bit scared of water so I was concerned about this scene. But when we were filming it, I managed to pull it off.“
She also shares having a ruminative moment while playing the role of Doona.
“I did think of the times when I was part of the girl group. Looking back, I did have moments like that. But Doona is different because she embraced her emotions. So, I thought I really want to give her a big hug.”
Giving reassurance that he assimilated to the youthful vibe of his character, Yang Se Jong made an adorable quip.
“I’m skinnier in the drama. I gained 3 kilos.”
He also drew inspiration from his youth experience.
“When I was focusing on Doona, I did not want to think about my past love experiences. But I think of myself in my early 20s. Won-jun and my past self, have different lives. There was no fine line between me and Won-jun.”
Challenging a new work from a webtoon, Director Lee quickly elaborates on the preparations he did with the writer.
“I’ve done three remakes and this is my first time translating webtoon to a drama. When making webtoons into a video format, there are differences. Webtoons air for a long time but a TV show is a few episodes and you have to choose the important scenes. The writer did well in choosing the scenes. It is quite different from other romance stories.”
Doona! premieres on Netflix on October 20!
Event Covered By: abbyinhallyuland
Photos: Netflix
