Featuring IU, Park Bo-gum, Moon So-ri, and Park Hae-jun, the Netflix new drama "After the Bitter, Meet You Like an Orange" premieres on the 7th, with a production press conference held on the 5th. IU and Park Bo-gum, who are of the same age, joked that they knew each other since their teens but are only officially collaborating for the first time in their thirties. IU confessed that she relied heavily on Park Bo-gum on set, and their cooperation was seamless, making them feel like best partners both in and out of drama. Park Bo-gum praised IU for successfully portraying the complex and varied emotions of "Ae Chun," enabling him to delve better into his role.
In the drama, IU and Moon So-ri play the younger and middle-aged versions of the female lead Oh Ae-chun, respectively, while Park Bo-gum and Park Hae-jun play the younger and adult versions of the male lead Yang Kwan-sik. IU shared, “This is my second collaboration with director Kim Won-seok. I am also a fan of screenwriter Lim Sang-chun. After reading the script, I liked it so much that I agreed to the role within a day.” Moon So-ri also stated, “This is one of the scripts that made me cry the most. When I found out that the young Ae-chun was played by IU, I was both surprised and delighted.”
Moon So-ri mentioned that on set, she often communicated with IU and even revealed that to better match IU’s tone, they exchanged lines for practice. “IU has a small mole on her face, which I think is her signature feature, so I asked the makeup artist to draw the same mole on me to feel more like Ae-chun.” IU was touched and exclaimed, “Actually, the mole could have been covered, but senior Moon So-ri suggested keeping it.”
Park Hae-jun and Park Bo-gum both focused on the continuity of their roles. Park Hae-jun stated that although they didn’t particularly rehearse the script together, Park Bo-gum had already filmed several scenes of Kwan-sik. By watching his performance, he tried hard to match Park Bo-gum’s nuances in behavior and speech. “I also tried to mimic the Kwan-sik expressed by Bo-gum to strengthen the connection of the character.” Park Bo-gum laughed and thanked Park Hae-jun: “Senior played Kwan-sik so well. The Kwan-sik I portrayed is more action-oriented, which was somewhat challenging for me, but fortunately, the director's meticulous guidance gave me more confidence to immerse in the role.”
IU and Park Bo-gum have known each other for many years, but this is their first drama collaboration. IU explained that they met not long after debuting, “So like Ae-chun and Kwan-sik in the drama, we have grown up together. Although it’s our first official collaboration, it felt natural and relaxed from the first scene, and we had great chemistry. I could easily rely on him, exchange ideas, and ask for opinions during acting,” praising: “He is the best partner I’ve ever worked with.”
Park Bo-gum shared the same sentiment: “This collaboration was very moving for me. We met in our teens while filming an advertisement, I made a cameo in her starring drama "The Producers" in our twenties, and now in our thirties, we are finally co-starring. Such a predicament is rare, and we happen to be of the same age.” He further praised IU’s excellent acting, which helped him immerse in his role better, hoping to collaborate with IU in the future and challenge different roles.
"After the Bitter, Meet You Like an Orange" will officially launch on March 7th, with a total of 16 episodes, differing from Netflix’s usual release mode by updating four episodes weekly over four weeks. Director Kim Won-seok explained that this arrangement is to allow the audience to savor the plot intricately, "like eating dried persimmons, savoring bit by bit rather than rushing through."