11 Things I Learned From The Cast And Director Of Netflix's 'Gyeongseong Creature'

Netflix’s media press conference for their upcoming Korean drama Gyeongseong Creature was held on a chilly Tuesday (December 19) in Seoul, Korea. The venue was meant to Ongseong district (specifically the House of Golden Treasure) during the turbulent spring of 1945 in Gyeongseong.

During the introduction, host Park Gyung Rim dropped specific phrases like “monster made of human greed,” “ugly underbelly of tumultuous times,” and “the darkest part of Gyeongseong.”

Park Seo Joon described Gyeongseong Creature as a very complex mashup of different genres, and a visual feast for the audience. The much-loved actor plays the role of Master Jang Tae Sang, number one informant and owner of the largest pawn shop, the House of Golden Treasure. Opposite him is Yoon Chae Ok, the famed sleuth (portrayed by Han So Hee) who can track down anyone—dead or alive.

The cast who attended the press conference included Claudia Kim, who gave life to Lady Yukiko Maeda, a Japanese noblewoman who runs the show in Gyeongseong; Kim Hae Sook, a steady fixture in the House of Golden Treasure and considered almost family to Tae Sang; and Jo Han Chul, who has been searching for his missing wife for 10 years.

Here are 11 things we learned about Gyeongseong Creature from the cast and director:

1. The cast signed on to the Gyeongseong Creature project primarily because of the script.

Park Seo Joon said Tae Sang’s character is the type of role where you can show different facets of yourself, and the narrative was very intriguing. Meanwhile, Han So Hee thought that the creature genre “would be of immense help to me as an actress going forward.” Claudia Kim was impressed by the scale of the show, nothing that the drama has “little emotional turmoils within that grand scale.” For Kim Hae Sook, she had a lot of trust in the director and screenplay writer, and Jo Han Chul the cast included actors he wanted to work alongside—plus, “personally speaking I really like my character. [He] has a melodramatic role to him so I wanted to take this part.”

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2. It was Director Chung Dong Yoon’s idea to create a show that focused on the 1940s.

“When I talked to writer Kang about this show, I said that I wanted to talk about this era, the Gyeongseong Era,” director Chung revealed. “Let’s make this into a story that’s not just about us, but a story where people all around the world can enjoy.” And that’s where the idea of combining the period drama with the creature genre came about. “If it’s a creature genre I can talk about our history but also creatures, which can be more intriguing to a lot of global fans.” Director Chung also saw this project as a challenge for himself, since it was his first time trying to mash up two different genres.

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3. Park Seo Joon and Han So Hee were very involved in creating their respective costumes.

Park Seo Joon’s Tae Sang is a wealthy pawn shop owner, so when it came to dressing the part “we studied a lot and did a lot of research to make him come across that way.” For him, the first impression of when you meet a character, their overall look, is very important. “We came up with his look after many many discussions, so I really hope you will love it because we did our best.”

Although Tae Sang had a lot of outfit changes, Han So Hee’s character Yoon Chae Ok only had a total of three. In the trailer viewers see one scene where Chae Ok is all dressed up. “I remember we went through many rounds of fitting because director Chung saw [the dress] and he really wanted the color to match my skin tone. So we actually decided on that color because he thought it was just the right color for me.” How sweet!

However, majority of the time Chae Ok’s regular outfits for sleuthing were much less glamorous. “I actually have two, so it’s not just one outfit throughout the entire show. But most of it had to be really tattered and messed up for the scene.” Fun fact: for continuity, So Hee had about four different pieces of the same outfit!

4. Han So Hee and Park Seo Joon’s first scenes were extremely difficult—and left them wondering what they signed up for!

Apparently, the first scene Seo Joon filmed was his character being tortured! “It was extremely cold too, and I was getting splashed with water. I got drenched and almost felt like, “Hey am I being tortured? Is this the way you’re welcoming me on set?” The actor struggled at first, but then grew to anticipate future scenes: “If this is the beginning, what is it gonna be when we get to the end?” Although starting with the tough scenes allowed him to immerse himself in the role of Tang Sang, Seo Joon jokingly revealed that he had second thoughts: “did I come into the wrong set? Is this the right project for me?”

Interestingly, Han So Hee had a similar mindset. “Director Chung, you’re trying to look away as if it wasn’t you who did this to us,” she teased, causing her castmates and the media in the room to laugh. “For me, it was the first scene as well. It also made me think, “if this is my first day on set, what is my last day going to be?” After her scenes So Hee’s neck began to really hurt, and the next day it was so stiff she wasn’t quite able to turn her head! “However…I also really wanted to do the scene very well, so I think the director was as bent on getting the right scene [as me].”

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5. Claudia Kim learned Japanese for the role—but don’t expect her to be able to communicate in Japan!

Lady Yukiko Maeda is in charge of the mysteriousness in Gyeongseong Creature. According to Claudia, “she has the most power and the most wealth, and she is a supporter of the Ongseong Hospital.” Although she allows Tae Sang to befriend her, Lady Yukiko is very reserved and calm. “She comes off as someone who is just very dainty and beautiful, but you will not really know what’s going through her mind.”

Claudia has appeared in major international projects like Marco Polo and Avengers: Age of Ultron, so the global aspect of her role wasn’t too intimidating—until it came to learning a new language. Despite her Korean and English fluency, viewers might be surprised to see the actress speak Japanese, specifically the old-fashioned Kyoto style Japanese spoken at the time. To make things more difficult, she also had to portray Korean spoken by a Japanese person!

“It was very difficult. Learning Japanese, I felt a lot of pressure. And because she’s the only person using the old-fashioned Kyoto style Japanese, I had a hard time finding someone who could help me with that. Sadly, while I spent so much time studying Japanese, because I studied the particular “old style” one—if you sent me to Japan I wouldn’t be able to communicate.” Claudia is also very expressive in real life, so director Chung praised her for doing a good job in creating Yukiko, a very restrained character.

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6. Park Seo Joon and Han So Hee ended up *missing each other* during the filming!

ICYDK, Gyeongseong Creature is the first time Seo Joon and So Hee worked together in a series. Seo Joon called So Hee “a great actress” and said he was “really inspired by her,” while So Hee claimed that “because Seo Joon was there as if he were Tae Sang…it allowed me to concentrate on immersing myself as Chae Ok.”

Although they interacted at the script reading, the two actors didn’t really get to meet again until later into the shoot. “That was very helpful because I wanted to see her, I missed her!” Park Seo Joon stated. “So when I did get to see her, I said “Wow I missed you So Hee-yah! We haven’t been in a scene together for so long!” The actor realized as they were shooting those scenes together that there were emotions that built up, and believed their time apart was helpful in building up their onscreen romance. “You just have to trust your counterpart. I trusted So Hee this time around, I really relied on her a lot and she helped me out a lot.”

Although the Gyeongseong Creature trailer features several thrilling action scenes, there is always time for romance. For Tae Sang and Chae Ok, emotions had to be restrained because they both have something to protect. “As Seo Joon sunbaenim said just now, it took us a lot of time to get back together on the set. We were always missing each other, because usually he’s locked up somewhere or in the show I would be hurt, so there weren’t that many scenes that I could come together with him.” But for So Hee, the drama isn’t just about the romance between a girl and a boy, rather it’s this camaraderie about banding together to fight off the creature. “I hope the viewers don’t just focus on the romance part of the show, but the entire circumstances and how they band together to struggle to survive together.”

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7. Kim Hae Sook loved the set design, and was upset upon learning that they’d be destroyed!

The veteran actress described her character as a steady fixture throughout Tae Sang’s childhood. “She went through his good and bad times. [Na Wol Daek] is kind of like a mom to him.” Being the trustworthy housekeeper of the House of Golden Treasure meant Hae Sook spent a lot of time shooting on set. Her initial impression of the pawn shop left her feeling very impressed. “I’ve been in a lot of period dramas but this one was different. I’ve never seen anything like it. When the shooting was over I heard they were going to take it down. I was really mad because I didn’t want it to be taken down. There’s that vault inside the House of Golden Treasure and every little prop in the scene was perfect, jaw-dropping, so grandiose, it really was like I was in 1945. I felt like I was transported back to 1945.”

Director Chung also loved the set! “We would go to all corners of Korea to shoot films. The House of Golden Treasure was an indoor set, which is really warm and nice. There is this couch, it’s a little short but I can lie down and feel comfy on it. It’s the only sofa in the entire set. I don’t know what it is, but the vibe is really welcoming. There’s Tae Sang’s really nice office and the couch in the back. If I sit on the couch I actually feel like I’m in 1945 in Gyeongseong street.”

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8. Jo Han Chul felt “pressured” to make his character look cool.

According to Han Chul, writer Kang could write Yoon Joong Won’s character effortlessly because his narrative was so strong and his character was so cool. So he thought, “Why is she giving me this cool character?” For the actor, it was an honor to receive the role. “I play a lot of villains or very comical characters in my past works, but I think he’s the coolest guy among all the characters I’ve played so far. So I do feel a bit of pressure to make him look cool.”

Han Chul sees Joong Won as a romantic: “All of a sudden his wife goes missing. Because she went missing his whole life turned upside down. He takes his young daughter on a search for his wife for over 10 years. There’s little hints about her whereabouts, so he gets to meet with Tae Sang, and they infiltrate Ongseong Hospital together in pursuit of his wife and also because of Tae Sang’s goals.”

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9. Han So Hee and Jo Han Chul created a sweet father-daughter relationship on-and-offscreen!

“I had even more seens with him than I had with Tae Sang,” So Hee shared. “As I was shooting, if there were things I was thinking about I’d ask him for advice and rely on/trust him a lot. He very jokingly or sometimes very seriously gave me a lot of advice, which was invaluable to me.”

Han Chul revealed that because they both wore many layers of clothing, it would leave them feeling very hot. “We wanted to be caring of each other because we were father and daughter, so we had hand fans.”

10. Be prepared for amazing special effects, especially when it comes to the creature.

“Our creature is one of a kind, something that we created for ourselves originally,” said Director Chung. “We wanted to create a personal history for a creature so together with writer Kang we thought of how it all begins with a parasite inside your body, and how the creature is born, and what process it undergoes in order to become a creature, and what kind of abilities it has, and how it looks….All the history needs to be in place in order to persuade people.” Fun fact: The origin story of the creature is in the Opening Title (with cast and crew credits), so don’t skip the Intro!

WHen it came to working with a green screen and special effects, “we have what’s called “pre-visuals,” where the VFX team will let you know what the VFX will look like in the final cut,” Seo Joon disclosed. “It’s almost like a guide, those were shown to me prior to getting in the scenes so it really helped me concentrate on my character.”

Han Chul said he was very worried about it in the beginning because he had to rely on his imagination, “but it’s just like any other scene [in the end.]”

11. Han So Hee got injured during one of the action scenes, but Jo Han Chul was impressed at her abilities.

Responding to an earlier question, Han Chul was quick to praise his co-star: “I saw her in My Name where she did great action scenes. I was really taken aback by how good she was at action scenes. So I just told her “be careful,” we have so many action scenes so I didn’t want her to get hurt.”

Although the actress did end up getting injured on set, she firmly stated that it can happen to anyone. “It happens to all of the stunt teams and to anyone who really does action, there’s always the risk of injury. I’d feel really grateful if there were no injuries, but you really go into it thinking you want to be hurt as little as possible.”

“If I were to go back in time and do it again, I think that could probably help me be less at risk. It’s not about overdoing it when you’re being physical, for action scenes I felt like I could just do a better job if I could do it again,” she concluded.

Park Seo Joon said the cast and crew “poured our heart and soul into it,” so we’re excitedly counting down the days until the K-drama premieres on Netflix. Are you ready to watch a show that visualizes an age of both glamor and cruelty? Audiences can learn the secret of Ongseong Hospital and watch the protagonists desperately fight for survival when Part I of Gyeongseong Creature premieres on Friday, December 22, 2023. Part II will follow on Friday, January 5, 2024.