(SBS)

SBS‘ period drama “Scarlet Heart: Ryeo” is nearing the half way mark with episode 10 scheduled to broadcast Monday.

To celebrate the halfway mark, SBS has released an interview with actor Kang Ha-neul who plays the eighth prince, Wang Wook.

Below is a translated version of the interview:

Q: People have begun calling you the “Romeo of Goryeo” and have claimed that your gaze is like honey. Do you like the nickname and the things people have said about you? What about your close acquaintances?

I’m not quite sure because I‘ve seen my eyes my whole life, but I am very grateful for the compliments. My friends take screenshots of articles that use the nickname and send it to me. I actually get teased a lot, but it makes me feel good because I know my friends send me these things for fun. I’m truly grateful to the viewers and fans that say those things about myself though. All I did was stick to the script and tried my best to give a good performance, but because I‘m being so positively received, I’m very grateful.

Q: The scene where you walk in the snow with Lee Ji-eun in the fifth episode has become really famous. What are your thoughts on that?

There’s a lot of background to that scene. We almost couldn‘t film it actually. We needed to film a snow scene, but it wasn’t snowing so it was very difficult. So we filmed the other scenes while we waited for it to snow, but luck would have it that the last snowfall was coming up. So we rounded up the whole production team and filmed that scene at last. It was very memorable.

Q: You spent a lot of time acting with Lee Joon-gi and Lee Ji-eun. How was it?

I‘ve been a fan of Lee Joon-gi since I was young and he’s an actor I really look up to. It was just a great joy to work beside him. Even before meeting him I wanted to contact him, so I got his number through his agency and contacted him very carefully and respectfully. I was surprised he was happy that I got his number and contacted him like a stalker. I think that definitely built a bond and made filming a lot more fun.

With Lee Ji-eun, I only knew her music so I thought it would be a bit hard to break the ice, but she has such a great personality and so we just naturally kicked it off. Were also in a similar age group so it was easy relating to each other. Her focus and acting was also really amazing which motivated me to work harder as well.

Q: What was the inspiration behind your character‘s thoughts on arranged marriages, family expectations and Hae-soo (Lee Ji-eun) in the drama.

While playing the role of Wang Wook, I put a lot of emphasis on reason. I think reason is a definitive factor in fully immersing yourself into character. You have to think, what is my character’s reason behind this and that? So I put myself in his shoes and imagined myself under his pressures to justify the reasons behind his actions and behavior. The reason for an arranged marriage, the reason behind falling in love with Hae-soo, and later the reason behind his change in character. He‘s actually quite an unfortunate person.

Q: We are now on episode 10, what can we expect as the story unfolds even further?

Now there’s only 10 episodes left. I just want to say thank you to everyone for watching and staying tuned. It really means a lot to see the hard work we put in come to fruition. You can expect an even more heart wrenching story to unfold so make sure to keep watching.

By Lee Sang-won (sangdoze@heraldcorp.com)