Netflix is devoting a lot of promo time still to Vincenzo which is a great investment as streaming allows the drama to stay hot on the site for longer than the network airing period. It’s been a month since the drama wrapped but it was such a meaty work I remain curious for more tidbits. Song Joong Ki along with PD Kim Hee Won and screenwriter Park Jae Bum got together for an interview and gab session that was recently posted on Netflix. It was cute seeing how shy the PD and writer are, donning the girl and Inzaghi pigeon masks used in the scene where they revealed secrets on Babel and the corrupt law firm. A few tidbits stood out for me: when asked why there wasn’t more romance scenes, writer Park said that he was a middle aged man so it’s hard to write romance as all his love cells have died, lol; and he further shared that the inspiration for the Geumga Plaza residents came from the hit movie Kung Fu where all these martial arts experts were living in a rundown tenement.
Interview with PD, Writer and Song Joong Ki:
Hey you guys!Do you hear the rumor about the youngest chaebol family will airing on jtbc and who the female lead?Suzy!What suzy!It will third flop for song joong ki after battleship island,artdal chronicle and his next drama for sure.I hope it just rumor on twitter and hope sjk not accept the youngest chaebol family.I mean after kim tae ri and jeon yeo bin (movie actress) come to suzy?What a huge mess.
This project will be a huge hit no matter who stars in it.
The writers is from Designated Survivor: 60 Days writers. hopefully, It’s More Designated Survivor: 60 Days type of drama than Sunkyunkwan Scandal. It’s also from JTBC. SO I have some hope the romance won’t be the main focus, but the revenge will. I hope SUzy only act as supporting female lead so the casting make sense.
It is rumored, not confirmed yet
Oh dear. She might be bearable in Park Hae Ryun dramas (the only writer who can make something other than a liability of her onscreen imo) but she’s still nowhere near the level of being able to keep up with Song Joong Ki.
I mean, Moon Chae Won, SHK, Jeon Yeo Bin, even Kim Ji Won are good actresses in their own right. I hope the final FL is someone else, Vincenzo showed the FL doesn’t have to be famous as long as she’s good at acting+has chemistry with him.
JYB is a really, really good actress though. She was stealing scenes from SJK at some points.
@Ophelia my other comment replying to you got eaten but I just want to say I agree, JYB isn’t just good she’s fantastic! What an actress ?
Kim Ji WOn is the weakest link among those of his leading lady. Fortunately the Romance is not the main focus.
Kim Ji Won is not any better than Suzy for me.
@Ophelia no joke, I went in for SJK+writer and came out a new fan of JYB+PD. Class act, all of them.
Suzy??? Oh noooo, what a downgrade from JYB if SJK really accept this. I would love to see him in this drama but he deserves a better female lead cmon
Sorry but KJW is 10 times better as an actress than Suzy will ever be. Both on the technical front (clear diction that allows her to play roles where that matters – like her DOTS role where she was speaking in military formal style) and in terms of versatility (the range of characters/roles she’s successfully played is much wider).
The other may be more popular but when fans have to constantly blame writers, producers, directors, costars etc for her mediocre performances even ten years after her debut, that says enough about who’s the better actress (even IU fans never do that).
This was intended in response to @missjb
I’m tired of this trend of slandering the abilities of actually talented but slightly lesser known non-idols (male and female) for people to prop up and defend people who are mediocre at best. You’re free to like them, just please don’t walk around pretending the rest of us should share your opinion.
I saw this with comments about Jeon Yeo Bin in Vincenzo’s early episodes, but it looks like Kim Ji Won has joined Park Shin Hye as the favoured punching bag of idol-actress fans. What a joke.
@royal we: we have different opinion regarding acting ability. but for me, Kim Ji Won in Arthdal is painful to watch because she is the only one who is out of depth among competent cast. at least suzy technique has improve since her debut.
Vincenzo was so good though, as a project it was a cut above the usual kdrama – all the details and Easter eggs they embedded just make it even more fun on a rewatch.
What’s unexpected was seeing how popular it got on the international side, for a drama that looked like it had no romance and came from a writer with no history of romance in his dramas, that’s very surprising cause even The Fiery Priest didn’t get that hype!
It was even bigger on the international side than on the domestic K-ent side (it helps that it streamed on Netflix, which is now the vehicle for carrying the Hallyu wave). I wonder if Vincenzo counts as even more of an international hit than DOTS at this point.
For a drama that had romance as a subplot, viewers went INSANE for the romance (judging by the constant screaming on social media even till now), and the romance became the drama highlight for a lot of viewers. I wonder if the cast was taken aback by that.
This is Song Joong Ki doing an action scene almost every episode and doing swoony action and scene. So Basically no way it won’t be a hit. But I admit the hype is higher than I expecting. Moreover JYB and SJK always together despite minim romance scene and their BTS really sell the drama.
Yeah I was surprised to see so many Vincenzo posts on Pann/instiz as well as on kpop fan twitter accounts.
I don’t think anything can be a bigger international hit than DOTS, unless we forgot how huge that drama was both in and outside Korea especially Asiawide (it was that big that when I travelled to Japan later that year, someone asked me if I knew it). But Vincenzo is definitely the breakout hit of the year, it scored 14 percent tv ratings for its finale, basically was constantly no. 1 on Netflix Korea top 10, stayed in other countries’ top 10s even weeks after ending….it’s popular everywhere, plus we can see the top 10 stats which weren’t there a few years ago.
And @missjb – SJK doing action alone wouldn’t be the reason why Vincenzo is successful…by that same logic, Battleship Island should have been a bit hit but it wasn’t.
Also I think the movie being referenced by writer Park Jae-bum here as inspiration for the Geumga plaza gang is not Kung Fu (there’s a western tv series with that name but I couldn’t find any movies), it may be Kung Fu Hustle (2004), that was the movie that had loads of martial arts masters living in one rundown tenement and being terrorised by gangs. It’s a great movie, one of my favourites from Stephen Chow!
Also am I the only one who wonders if PJB is Catholic? It’s interesting because this is the second drama he’s written with a Catholic male lead (I seem to remember even Chief Kim had some element suggesting Namgoong Min’s character was Christian).
@royal we: in battleship island, it’s movie in which it’s also touching a serious issue, which won’t be accepted by the massed. SJK is also only a supporting roles.in vincenzo, it’s clear the target audience is for for mainstream audience mainly SJK fangirl. I didn’t expected it would be a hit in South Korea, But I did expecting it would be a hit in International considering even before broadcast there is a hype surrounding the drama because it’s song joong ki. the whole package is just aim for mainstream audience just like DOTS.
Ok girl, whatever mental gymnastics you want.
Loved Vincenzo. Too bad the koreans can’t make this high level drama all the time. It is always rich guy cinderella stories…maybe because life is hard in s. korea and they need saving.
Richguy/poor girls all the time? Time has changed and there are more storylines that break the rich guy/poor girl romance these days.
I would just like yo say song joong ki wasnt a supporting role, and vincenzo was a big hit , as the gentleman said , it usually just romance , romance , romance , whereas vincenzo had everything , a good storyline , villain , and people comin together for a good cause , I was riveted , the only reason the rating wesrnt higher in korea is penhouse and such series , being televised at the same time , but song joong ki is an excellent actir , and jeon yea bin done an amazing job yoo .