On the afternoon of the 27th, a press conference for Genie TV’s original “Tell Me You Love Me” was held at the Grand Ballroom of Sangam Stanford Hotel in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Director Kim Yoon Jin, Jung Woo Sung, and Shin Hyun Bin attended the event.
“Tell Me You Love Me” is a classic melodrama about the silent love between painter Cha Jin Woo (played by Jung Woo Sung), who has a hearing impairment and speaks with his hands, and actress Jung Mo Eun (played by Shin Hyun Bin), who listens with her heart.
The Kdrama is based on the Japanese TV drama “Aishiteiru to Ittekure” (screenplay by Eriko Kitakawa – production by TBS Television), which became a mega-hit across Asia in 1995.
Jung Woo Sung bought the rights to “Tell Me You Love Me” 13 years ago, and it’s a drama he loves enough to produce and star in.
“We bought the rights 13 years ago. I think it was a time when I didn’t have the courage to make it. “At the time, it was said, ‘Let’s wait. I thought, ‘It’s hard for this drama to be accepted in the media environment now,’ but (now) it’s a media environment that’s familiar with subtitles,” he said, adding that the changed media environment allowed the work to come out into the world.
“The social perception of the character ‘Cha Jin Woo’ may have matured, but the media environment is also subtitled, so there is no rejection of it,” he said, adding, “I think it will be a step towards a lighter approach.”
“It would be great if the drama could open up a new way of thinking about things like preconceived notions about people with disabilities, not just deafness,” he said.
“In the original drama, the voice of a man with a disability is narrated, and I felt like it was tapping on my heart. The sound kept pulling at me. I dared to be brave,” he said, explaining why he chose the project
On acting while communicating in sign language, he says, “The language is very intuitive. It was fun at first, but it was difficult to learn because it was expressed completely differently depending on the location and direction.” “It was a new experience in learning the language and acting,” he said.
“I think it means a lot to communicate. I’m not the same person I was 13 years ago, so I think it’s a drama that I’ve been thinking a lot about, ‘What kind of feelings about love can I have at Jin Woo’s age?
“Tell Me You Love Me” will air on 27th at 9pm on Genie TV, ENA and will be available on Disney + in some countries.