[Interview] Song Joong Ki, Jeon Yeo Bin and Ok Taec Yeon talks about Vincenzo and More

February 17, 2021February 24, 2021 Emi

With the upcoming release of the drama “Vincenzo” on Netflix, an interview session was held with the three main stars – Song Joong Ki, Jeon Yeo Bin and Ok Taec Yeon. As with the current situation of the world in this pandemic times, we weren’t able to fly to Korea neither the stars were able to fly to Malaysia, a Zoom interview session was set up by Netflix.

“Vincenzo” (빈센조) follows Song Joong Ki as Vincenzo Cassano, a lawyer and a consigliere to an Italian Mafia. Upon his return to Korea, he encounters odd neighbours and gets entangled in a fight against an intimidating opponent. Along with lawyer Hong Cha Young (Jeon Yeo Bin) and her intern Jang Joon Woo (Ok Taec Yeon), they punish evil with evil and seek revenge.

While introducing his character, Song Joong Ki explained that his character is similar to a character in the movie The Godfather. “Just like the movie, Vincenzo is similar to the character of Tom who works for Al Pacino, the legal advisor who looks over the operations. This character arrives in Korea. Desn’t have a legal status in Korea, he comes across various things and tries to solve the challenges.”

He added that while reading the script, he was drawn to the character as it was refreshing. “There is always evil people everywhere, unfortunately. In Korea recently, when I watch the news, some news makes me so angry that it almost brings me to tears and I thought that the way that evil is punished in the drama, it’s very refreshing. There are a lot of villains in our story and in fact, unfortunately there are a lot of these villains in our lives as well. And I think the way that the characters approached and the method of punishing the villains was very satifying for me.”

Jeon Yeo Bin, who played Hong Cha Young, said that “When I saw the scripts for each episodes, the way and the speed of how the story rolls out is fascinating. And also the level of detail as well. I fell in love with the script. What draws me in the most, is my character, which is very much alive. I feel that my character is the most charming. She is a very cool character and it made me want to join the drama. It goes back and forth between hard and cold which is the charm of our show.”

She added, “My character has this desire that really drives her and the fact that she is not focused on the good or bad but on her own desires, it could be seen as something not as well received by some. However, I was really drawn to her honesty, because I personally cannot be as honest and straight forward with my desires. And I feel that I was able to create a female character that was never seen before and I hope that you will feel the same when you watch her.”

Ok Taec Yeon, plays Jang Joon Woo, a very naive intern, who makes a lot of mistakes and has his eyes set on Hong Cha Yong. A person who, according to Taec Yeon, that someone would think “How did he pass the bar?”. He also added that he was drawn to the drama series on two things, “The first, is the story line and the description, which was so well written that I can picture the scenes in my head and I could immediately figure out what the writer wanted to express in the scenes, it felt very alive. Secondly, the personal growth of the character, Joon Woo starts out as this clumsy intern who is always looking to Cha Young for everything, but as he goes through his personal growth, I was really drawn to that aspect of the character.”

Taec Yeon, from the group 2PM, also known as the beastly idol or someone with a manly image, when asked about his feelings on acting the character, said “I have been living as the character for 6 months now and all I can say is I am really enjoying the process. Joon Woo is a character who can be seen as very naive and also all over the place all the time. That is because his eyes is always set on Cha Young and Cha Young only. By playing this character, I was also able to feel light hearted and have a lot of fun with the character because Joon Woo is a character that is not pressured by the expectations of society but only goes for what he wants and that is what drives him. I think that by playing such a character, I also was able to have a lot of fun and I think that if the character had a motto, it would be “Let’s have fun with everything”, so I was able to do exactly that.”

On working together, Song Joong Ki has high praises for his co-stars. “This is my first time working with them. When I first heard that I was chosen to work with them, I felt that they were a perfect fit for the characters. When we met for the first time, I felt like they were really people who I can work together with to create great synergy, to cheer each other up and to really just have a good time on set. When we do these projects there tend to be challenges, and because I was able to work with these two, I feel like we could cheer each other up and have a great time.”

It was not the first time for Jeon Yeo Bin and Ok Taec Yeon to work together as they were previously in “Save Me”. “I believe I was the first person to be casted. At the time, I was not aware who I would be working with. When I heard their names, I was extremely happy. I have worked with Ok Taec Yeon before, so I don’t have to explain further on how we have so much great chemistry from the get go. As for Song Joong Ki, he was my favourite actor while I was in school. It was amazing to hear that I will be working alongside him and I have a lot of expectations. Upon meeting him in person, Song Joong Ki is a person that really pays attention to details. It was amazing to work with someone like that. I feel extremely grateful to be working with them and I have a lot of love for them.”

Taec Yeon further added that “When we met for the first time on set, I felt like Song Joong Ki was already Vincenzo himself. He was neat, perfect and when I met him, I could not help myself but be jealous of him. Alongside the perfection that his character has, there was also a comedic aspect to it that I was amazed to see when we were reading the script. Just a single act from him would break laughter in the room. So i just continue to be in awe of him, thinking he is so perfect and I continued to be so jealous of him.”

“As for Yeo Bin, when we met for the first scene, people tend to be nervous when they were just starting out on set. However, I was amazed to see how determined and passionate she was from the very first scene. In fact, in one of the very first scenes, she had her head laid on the table and fall asleep and when I saw her act out that scene, I felt that she had really brought the character to life. Prior to that, we actually had a lot of practice sessions together and everytime I am just in awe of her talent. I felt that she is very much like a sponge where she really takes it all in and was able to express it and put it all out there on the screen.”