With the release of the first two episodes of Disney+’s new streaming medical thriller ‘Hyper Knife’ the world gets to see a different side to Korean superstar Park Eun-bin. She has wowed audiences with her earnest and textured performance in the popular hit K-Drama ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ and a look at her filmography shows that she has played challenging yet more grounded characters. Now, in this gripping suspense series, she has shed all the goodness that we’ve come to know of her from ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ or ‘The King’s Affection’ as she tackles the sociopathic genius underground doctor Jung Se-Ok.
Like every press conference, the actors and the director take turns coming on stage to pose for the cameras. It’s charming to see actor Yoon Chang-young, who plays Seo Young-joo in the series, look so awkward and nervous despite having debuted as far back as 2013 and having starred in the hit zombie series ‘All of Us Are Dead.’ In comparison to his older co-stars, Park Eun-bin, Park Byung-Eun, and the legendary Sul Kyung-gul, Yoon Chang-young looks so young and naive despite his rather impressive resume as he started as a child actor like Park Eun Bin.
Alongside with director Kim Jung-Hyun, the cast went down to really talk about how different this show is going to be. “It’s a very strange story,’ says Kim, “There’s something off about each of the characters. You won’t normally get to meet characters like these in a K-Drama. It’s almost like a fairy tale but bloody.’ We know this from just the first two episodes alone. Seeing Park Eun-bin play a rather blood thirsty character is such a surprise. She describes her character as a “prodigy and a genius neurosurgeon who has an obsession. She is uncontrollable.” The real Park Eun-bin is bright and cheerful, a complete opposite of her character Jung Se-Ok and Park is quick to add: “I can’t ask you to root for her, but I hope you can enjoy the show.” She emphasizes that there are people like this and that hopefully viewers will find them an interesting watch on television.
Playing opposite of Park Eun-bin is Sul Kyung-Gu, who plays her former mentor who disgraces her and removes her medical license forcing her to go underground. On his character, he says “Choi Deok-hee is like a person who is isolated on an island. He is lonely but he doesn’t let anyone near him. He is self-centered and clumsy, and he has no one to admire except for Jung Se-Ok. But he can also be petty. Very petty.” Sul continues to explain that the two leads are dark reflection of each other, practically mirror images and he hopes that the connection between the two will make the audience excited to tune in every week.
It’s this darkness that attracted Park Eun-bin to the role. She narrates how she got the script while shooting ‘Castaway Diva’ and she was hooked on just reading the logline on the first page. She shares that “no one believes me when I say that I am so safe in my choices.I only take roles that I know I can deliver well but this role is a real challenge for me.” She reiterates her earlier message saying she doesn’t want anyone to “understand her character.” She talks about the genre called picaresque, which she says “is a genre where the protagonist is not a hero. He’s a bad person and that’s what we are doing in this show.”
Sul talks about how he didn’t have to work hard in learning how to look like a competent doctor. “There are stand-ins for the procedures and close-ups on the hands,” he admits but is quick to add that “there are no stand-ins for Park Eun-bin.” He says that she’s so small that they couldn’t find a doctor to play her parts so Park Eun Bin had to train and learn how to do all the operations in the show so she could perform it on camera.
For a cast that are working with each other for the first time, there’s a lot of love and affection that is thrown around here. Despite the dark nature of the show, the chemistry is going to be off the charts if the first two episodes and the press conference are any indication.
Don’t miss out on this gripping new thriller! Watch Hyper Knife now on Disney+ and witness Park Eun-bin and Sul Kyung-gu’s electrifying face-off.
