Screenwriter Park Ji Eun Got the Idea for Crash Landing on You From a South Korean Actress Accidentally Boating to North Korea

Man, no wonder tvN drama Crash Landing on You always sounded silly and like fan fiction type set up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying it so far two episodes in but goodness is the entire premise beyond stupid. South Korean chaebol daughter and fashion maven Son Ye Jin gets whisked away in a supernatural tornado while paragliding and ends up in North Korea where she meets her fated man in North Korean military officer Hyun Bin. Where do I even start?

Turns out screenwriter Park Ji Eun has been nursing this script since 2008 when she read a news report about a South Korean actress out boating and got lost and sailed to North Korean shores. She ended up talking to a North Korean man and had to make a quit getaway when the government officials showed up. Initially the drama was supposed to be set in a boating mishap sailing to North Korea but due to recent boating incidents she changed it to other modes of transportation, noodling over several from planes, trains, and automobiles before settling on paragliding. So there you have it, every idea always has an inspiration.


Comments

Screenwriter Park Ji Eun Got the Idea for Crash Landing on You From a South Korean Actress Accidentally Boating to North Korea — 8 Comments

  1. Right! It’s surprising how even the most seemingly outrageous and unbelievable idea might actually be inspired from pure, unfiltered reality. It’s just we are too often prone to dismiss the more outrageous premises as completely fictional, and something that could never actually happen to “real people” when–you know, oftentimes truth really is stranger than fiction. Like, with all this talk about Crash-landing love I’ve remembered an older drama, Spy Myung Wol, that also had a premise that seemed to me really silly: the heroine, a NK solider, is tasked with kidnapping the hero, and uber-famous SK Hallyu star, to bring him to NK. The drama is super campy, but I remember quite enjoying it, for its sheer entertainment value; still, I thought the premise was such a let-down for the overall story, because it was so stupid. Well, I read recently, in the 1970s, the heydays of NK kidnappings, SK movie stars were quite the favored target, for some reason. So the silly premise of Spy Myung Wol had greater basis in truth than many other “serious” dramas. Who would have thought?

  2. I am loving the show so far and hyun bin so manly in era of flower boys!!!
    Son ye jin is looking natural now which was lacking in first 2 episodes. The scene where she has to display emotional turmoil when she was talking about her family not caring, showed what a great actress she is. No wonder she is still at top. Great movie career. Though her dramas never matched her movie success, i feel this drama will!
    And olus this drama i wont watch from critical analysis. It is fun n that is what matters to me

  3. Despite its silly premise, I am loving every minute of the campiness. The tornado scene in Crash Landing reminded me of Sharknado Part 2 with all the sharks flying around inside the tornado! Hilarious. Not to be taken seriously since this is a fantasy romance drama. The key word being fantasy.

  4. This drama is so silly but it is good because it never stops poking fun at its own silliness – just came from watching ep3 and this episode cements the drama as one that will intentionally use all tropes in kdrama ever (and I mean all!) and it’s a hoot! I can’t stop laughing. If it continues this streak , this writer will have another hit on her hands. I‘M liking it!

  5. Silly or not I’m loving it so much particularly the 4 soldiers plus 1 ep10. They are hilarious!!! They are the Korean version of the US TV Friends. Anxious for the next episodes. All the best to the cast and crews. Park Ji Yun and Lee Jeong-hyo, my high respect to both of you.

  6. For an Asian (but non-Korean) person like me the drama is both interesting and exciting. Everyone knows about the conflict in the Korean peninsula, so it seemed quite interesting how the screenwriter (and director and actors) would lead the protagonists (Se-ri & Jeong Hyeok) to resolving their romantic dilemma. It seemed quite the ultimate Romeo & Juliet version – how could the love between a South Korean woman and a North Korean man prosper? The major twist in that the lovers belong to two “warring” nations and their romance had political ramifications. I was curious about how the North looked like and how people there lived, so it was an interesting drama. The fact that both persons were in what might be called “dangerous liaisons” was enough to entice the viewers to hang on till the last episode. At any moment they could be caught and who knows what could happen to them. So it was interesting how the scriptwriter wove the story to make it look somewhat plausible. Obviously the scriptwriter was careful to establish the identities of the two main characters, he as the son of a high ranking NK official, a musician turned soldier, and she a rich single, adventurous, daring young businesswoman who had lots of money. So two people with two different type of power, somewhat. There were lessons to be learned about parents and children, especially mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, step-mothers and daughters, families, siblings, friendships, loyalty to one’s country, love of course, sacrifice. I felt sorry only about two things, no, three things: (1) that the younger brother turned out to be that way because of an ambitious wife; (2) that Gu Seong-joon had to die and leave Dan lonely for the rest of her life.. I was anticipating he’d show up in Russia and we will know he survived.. haha; and (3) that Jo Cheol-kang was portrayed as a totally ruthless man. As for the ending, it came as a surprise.. what viewers would have wanted – happy ending, but it seemed too good to be true. Is there a sequel maybe? Also in the last scene we didn’t see how the SK prisoners got into the bus..or what they seemed to have suddenly disappeared… I was hoping they’d be standing in awe but guarded when Se-ri came to run after Jeong Hyeok. The ambush was also a surprise but it kind of settles how everything was hush-hush and Jeong Hyeok and his men were not charged of sedition or something like that.

  7. I have a great love story plot in my mind that i know can be a blockbuster
    but i have nothing to do with scripwriting . How i wish my plot in mind will
    become a real television drama. Perhaps Ms.Park is interested

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