MBC‘s guaranteed hit actress Lee Se-young and box office hit star Na In-woo met at ‘Motel California’.

On the afternoon of the 9th, a production conference for MBC’s new Friday-Saturday drama ‘Motel California’ (hereafter referred to as ‘Motel Cali’) was held at the Golden Mouse Hall on the 1st floor of MBC in Sangam-gu, Mapo-gu, Seoul. Actors Lee Se-young, Na In-woo, Choi Min-soo, Kim Tae-hyung, Choi Hee-jin, and PD Kim Hyung-min were present.

PD Kim Hyung-min was the first to explain ‘Motel California’, saying, “It is a human romance drama that fuses the elements of first love met after 12 years and a hometown you don‘t want to return to.” PD Kim Hyung-min also said, “I tried hard to create a really family-like atmosphere for ‘Motel California’, especially with senior Choi Min-soo at the center. “I’m nervous and shaken up about how viewers will perceive it,” she added.



Lee Se-young said about her relationship with MBC, which has continued since “The Red End of the Sleeves,” “‘Because it’s MBC‘ wasn’t an option. I think we have a connection. Since I was young, the dramas I‘ve appeared in the most were on MBC, and the food there was the best. So it felt like a broadcasting station that was closest to me. I’m grateful to be working with her again this time, and I‘m grateful for the opportunity when many dramas fall through.”

When asked about the reason for appearing in “Motel California,” she said, “After reading the original novel, I thought that the character Kang-hee had a lot in common with me. I was so curious about how a child with deficiencies and trauma from the time he was growing up would grow up and what his thoughts would be like, and I wanted to meet him. I thought he was similar to me. That’s why I decided to appear in this work without hesitation,” he explained.

Earlier, news broke that Na In-woo, who had been waiting for his social service worker call-up, had been exempted from military service. According to reports at the time, Na In-woo had been assigned a Grade 4 supplementary service rating during a physical examination and was waiting to enlist, but he had not received a call-up notice from the Military Manpower Administration for three years, so he became eligible for exemption. According to the Military Service Act, if you are not called up for three years after being assigned a Grade 4 supplementary service rating, you are subject to ‘military service exemption’.

In relation to this, Na In-woo‘s agency at the time acknowledged the contents of the report, but did not reveal its position on why he had been assigned a Grade 4 supplementary service rating.



When a question about this was raised at the production conference, Na In-woo began by saying, “First of all, I would like to apologize to my colleagues and seniors for speaking here.” He then said, “If I may say something since this is the place I am, the first article came out during filming, and I had to make a decision late at night after filming ended in a state of confusion, and it is true that I had to choose silence.”

He continued, “I tried to be brighter, more exaggerated, and more appealing because people liked my bright, energetic, and positive appearance, and even though I was having a hard time and was in pain, I couldn’t show that side of me. So I honestly told you how I feel, hoping you‘ll see me for who I am, even though it’s hard to explain my personal reasons,” she said, ultimately drawing the line regarding the reason for her military exemption.



Regarding the promise of the success of ‘Motel California’, Lee Se-young said, “The MBC director is watching, and I don‘t know what he’ll think, but I‘ve never thought about the success of the show. I just thought about the characters and the show. That’s why I don‘t have that kind of burden. I don’t like it just because my previous show did well. I think our show is our show.”

She added, “Of course, I have to have a sense of responsibility as the main character, and I want to keep working, so I hope the show will do well to some extent. I said that if the show reaches 10% in viewer ratings, I‘ll appear as a special DJ for ‘Noon Hope Song’. As for what I can do, I won’t decide on a song title, but I‘ll do a short stage (too).”





Na In-woo said about the new side of himself he will show through ‘Motel California’, “Actually, looking back on the works I’ve done so far, I think I‘ve done genre dramas, historical dramas, and fantasy. I had fun approaching it as a character and figuring out how to express the character’s life. I tried my best because the production company and broadcasting station told me to show them the best they could by comparing them to myself. I did my best, so I hope you‘ll look at it favorably,“ he said, asking viewers to watch.

Meanwhile, ‘Motel California’ depicts the twists and turns of a first love remodeling romance that a woman who was born and raised in a motel in the countryside experiences as she reunites with her first love in her hometown that she ran away to 12 years ago. First broadcast on Friday, January 10th at 9:50 PM.

Reporter Choi Yoon-na, Donga.com yyynnn@donga.com