In an exclusive press conference held on December 16, the cast and director of the upcoming Netflix series Sweet Home shared their experiences on filming the much-anticipated adaptation of the popular webtoon of the same name.
Actors Song Kang, Lee Jin-wook, Lee Sin-young, Lee Do-hyun, Park Gyu-young, Go Yoon-jung, Kim Nam-hee, and Go Min-si, together with Director Lee Eung-bok shared some details of the upcoming thriller series and why the viewers should watch out for it.
Sweet Home is based on the hit Naver webtoon written by Kim Carnby and art by Hwang Young-chan. Sweet Home follows the story of the people living in the apartment complex called Green Home. An uncommon story about normal people turning into monsters that mirrors their hidden desires.
The upcoming Netflix series is built with extraordinary visuals of realistic-looking monsters and a thrilling story.
Due to the pandemic situation, the cast and the director were connecting from different places but they showed much enthusiasm to greet the viewers.
Director Lee Eung-bok, who also directed the hit dramas Mr. Sunshine, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, and Descendents of the Sun, shared the reason why he decided to direct the series, “the irony of a story in which a boy who decides to kill himself ends up saving other people’s lives after turning into a monster”. He added that working on a new genre allowed him to try new ways of expression.
Director Lee mentioned that Sweet Home portrays a world wherein people turns into monsters overnight or get killed by someone they know. It will show the different faces of humanity trying their best to survive this chaotic world.
Moreover, the decisions and conflicts between the characters reflect a very important message on “how to live like a human” and “how to die like a human”.
With a very interesting plot, Sweet Home will keep the audience on the edge of their seat with every episode.
Watch the making-of featurette below:
Why they choose to star in Sweet Home
Song Kang plays the role of Cha Hyun-soo, who moves into Green Home after losing his whole family in an accident.
Song Kang said that Director Lee contacted him first. “I was a fan of the webtoon and was excited to read through the script”, he recalled. He was curious about how the series will bring life to the monsters from the webtoon.
Director Lee added that all the emotions of Song Kang’s character are memorable to him and he liked how he can read his emotions through his eyes and facial expressions.
Lee Jin-wook plays the role of Pyun Sang-wook, a mysterious man who lives in Green Home and often mistaken for a gangster.
“Director Lee is directing it,” Lee Jin-wook shared when asked why he chooses to star in Sweet Home. When he heard about the production of the series, he looked into the webtoon and enjoyed reading it.
Additionally, Director Lee said that Lee Jin-wook’s character in Sweet Home is different from his usual gentleman characters and that they tried to portray his character as Pyun Sang-wook as someone that is beast-like with empty and sad eyes.
Seo I-kyung, played by Lee Si-young, is a firefighter and former special forces soldier. She became the leader of Green Home for survival.
Lee Si-young finds the story interesting and she wanted to show her action moves. Director Lee stated, “she is the best actress in Korea to play the role of Seo I-kyung”.
Lee Do-hyun plays the role of Lee Eun-hyuk, a medical student and is the brain of Green Home.
Lee Do-hyun shared that he was a huge fan of the webtoon and said, “I want to be in the series so bad, that I showed strong enthusiasm during the audition”.
Director Lee added that Lee Do-hyun was the best during the audition and that he was very much in sync with his character.
Kim Nam-hee plays the role of Jung jae-hun, a Korean language teacher and devout Christian.
Kim Nam-hee previously worked with Director Lee and when he read the script, he told the director that he wanted to play the role as he found the character very cool and most attractive.
Go Min-si plays the role of Eun-hyuk’s younger sister, Lee Eun-yoo. She shared that she did not audition for the role of Lee Eun-yoo and Director Lee gave her the role afterwards.
The character Yoon Ji-soo is being played by Park Gyu-young. Her character is a bass guitar player who causes noise around the apartment complex.
Park Gyu-young is also a fan of the original webtoon, and then she got a request for a meeting. She shared, “I was asked to do a script reading and Director Lee said to take the script as I was leaving”.
Finally, Go Yoon-jung plays the role of Park Yoo-ri, a caregiver of another character named Gil-seop. She uses her expertise as a medical aid and treats the injured during the time they were fighting with the monsters.
Go Yoon-jung shared that she took the audition. She explained that she took the scenario from the webtoon and compared it. She said, “I thought Yoo-ri’s emotions are much deeper in the webtoon and I tried to remember Yoo-ri’s feelings while I was acting”.
Preparation for their roles
For his role, which is a completely different role from his other dramas, Song Kang stated that there is pressure on his role and said, “I tried to enjoy the pressure and weight on my shoulders”.
Lee Si-young tried to build a fit physique and said she worked out very hard for the role. She also received personal training to prepare for her role as Seo I-kyung.
On playing a tough guy or a gangster, Lee Jin-wook said that Director Lee gave him a reference on his role.
Lee Do-hyun answered the question from Annyeong Oppa in regard to his preparation for his role.
He said that this is his first time acting with glasses and that he had to act like someone who’s cold and lacking in emotions. Lee Do-hyun added, “in my daily life, I tried to be as cold as possible and reserve my emotions”.
The monsters of Sweet Home
The production of Sweet Home worked with top-rated companies such as Legacy Effects, Spectral Motion, and Westworld in order to produce a VFX/SFC filled thriller series.
Legacy Effects is Hollywood’s best special effects team and has worked on blockbuster films such as the Avengers movie franchise, X-men movie franchise, and Avatar.
Legacy Effects provided the visual of the monsters from Sweet Home. Spectral Motions is known for their works with Stranger Things. They were in charge of the visuals of “muscle monster”, “spider monster” and others. Lastly, Westworld is the frontrunner in “virtual production”, a technology that allows real-time monitoring of videos made with computer graphics.
Westword’s VFX superior Lee Byeong-ju shared that “Sweet Home is the first to adopt virtual production system in Korea. Virtual production system allows perfect reproduction of depth and movement of creatures.”
With all these companies working with the production, Sweet Home is one to watch out for when it comes to special effects and visual production.
Message to the viewers
Director Lee said, “Sweet Home is such an exciting series”. He hopes everyone loves the series.
The cast also hopes that the viewers will enjoy their new series because they all worked hard for it.
Kim Nam-hee stated, “many staff and actors put their utmost effort in this series, and I can say with confidence that you will love it”.
Are you excited to see Song Kang, Lee Jin-wook, Lee Si-young, Lee Do-hyun, and many more fighting the monsters of Green Home?
Make sure to catch Sweet Home on Netflix this December 18, 2020 at 4PM PST!
Watch the trailer for Sweet Home below:
All images are courtesy of Netflix