‘Plankton’ Woo Do-hwan “I wanted to try a free-spirited character when I was younger...” [DA:Interview①]
On the morning of the 13th, Woo Do-hwan held an interview for the Netflix series ‘Mr. Plankton’ at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and met with Donga.com to talk about the work.
On this day, Woo Do-hwan said about his thoughts on watching ‘Mr. Plankton’, “I watched it three times in total: before the song was added, before it was released, and after it was released. When I watched it without the song, it felt completely different from the end. I added my own interpretation, and I thought it would be funnier and sadder with the song in. When I watched it for the end, I think it was sad almost from the beginning.
Woo Do-hwan also said about the reason he chose ‘Mr. Plankton’, “I wanted to do this drama because of my first impression. He could seem free-spirited and carefree? But he‘s a friend who had a lot of hurt. He felt abandoned by the person he loved, so he seemed very lonely. But the staff and viewers thought that one of the aspects that suited Woo Do-hwan the best was his childlike appearance that had a sense of sadness and loneliness, which was my strength. I wanted to express this kind of character when I was even a year younger.”
Woo Do-hwan explained about the process of preparing for the character of Haejo, “There was no reference. What I just prepared for was that he’s a friend who‘s so different from me. I’m someone who lives within rules every day. I‘m someone who likes that kind of thing. I stopped exercising because I thought I shouldn’t do what I used to do every day. I tried not to do that a lot. I tried to meet more people and do things I hadn‘t done before. I thought that was the way to understand him. He’s a rough guy, and that‘s why,” he said.
Was there anything that changed for Woo Do-hwan after meeting ‘Mr. Plankton’? Woo Do-hwan said, “I used to live like the character in ‘Hunting Dogs’, but after meeting Hae-jo, I thought, ‘Isn’t this a bad way to live?” If you ask me which direction I want to live, it seems really difficult. I think it‘s right to live without harming others and protecting the people I love, but at some point, I think Hae-jo is selfish because of the wounds he suffered as a child. I thought that living in a world where I live alone might not be a bad life,“ he said.
Meanwhile, ‘Mr. ‘Plankton’ is a romantic comedy about the world’s most unlucky woman, ‘Jaemi (played by Lee Yoo-mi)’, who is forcibly accompanied by ‘Hae-jo (played by Woo Do-hwan)’, a man who was accidentally born the wrong way, on his last journey in life.
Woo Do-hwan plays ‘Hae-jo’, who lives his life like a floating plankton but begins wandering after receiving shocking news that turns his life upside down.
Choi Yoon-na, Donga.com reporter yyynnn@donga.com
