When director Jung Ji-woo talks about the two romantic leads in his upcoming film “Tune in for Love,” he uses a Korean expression equivalent to “reading the phone book and making it sound good.” Kim Go-eun and Jung Hae-in work so well together, he said, they could make “reading from a textbook entertaining.”

“Working with such good actors, it’s as good as it gets,” Jung said of the cast during a press conference for the film in Seoul on Monday, stressing the chemistry between the pair. “It was always automatically fun when the two of them came together (on the set).”

Both actors decided to take part in the project largely because of each other: Kim said Jung’s presence was an essential factor in her decision, and Jung said having Kim as his co-lead was the main reason he said yes. They two worked together briefly on the hit drama “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” in 2016.

The new film takes place in 1994, when Mi-su (Kim Go-eun) meets Hyeon-woo (Jung) by happenstance and develops a crush on him, but they fall out of contact for a time. As their paths intertwine and move apart, they stay bonded to each other via a passion they share for the radio show “Yoo Yeol’s Music Album.”

“Yoo Yeol’s Music Album” was a two-hour music request radio show that singer and producer Yoo Yeol hosted between 1994 and 2007, which came on at 9 a.m.

“Our film is very realistic in a way. The youngsters of today have trouble dating because they have to work for a living, and so do these two people who lived in the 1990s. But the two (leads) look out for another and raise each other up. This is what I think resonated the most (with the audience) in this movie,” Jung said.



Kim said the film carries the weight of the time that the two people share and endure.

“It is very realistic and not that dramatic, but I think audience members can walk out of the theater having been comforted (by the film) in some way,” she said.

The director said he wanted to depict a romance in an era when there were no cellphones, and his leading lady was crucial to carrying the film. He said Kim has matured as an actress since her sensational debut in his own film “A Muse.”

“I remember her looking around the set wide-eyed. ... She has appeared in so many films since then, and I feel that she has pondered over her career and really matured as an actor,” he said. “Gone is the curious little girl in ‘A Muse.’ Now she’s an adult with so many thoughts.”

Jung explained the meaning behind the real-life radio show “Yoo Yeol’s Music Album,” which is the Korean title of the movie.

“Just as the radio show changes over time, the character of Mi-su changes over time, little by little. But her essence remains the same, just like the radio. This is why the title is what it is,” he said.

The film is slated to hit the theaters next month.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)