MANILA, Philippines — Days before the much-anticipated Korean original series "Sweet Home" premieres worldwide, esteemed K-drama director Lee Eung-Bok ("Mr. Sunshine," "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God," "Descendants of the Sun") spoke with media about the complex world-building involved.
"As humans turn into savage monsters and wreak terror, one troubled teen and his apartment neighbors fight to survive - and to hold on to their humanity," reads the show's Netflix synopsis.
All 10 episodes of the series, based on the popular webtoon of the same name, will drop simultaneously on Netflix at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Although the story is filled with monsters, Lee said he really wanted to focus instead on the humans.
“So you know, what are monsters? That was kind of the question that I wanted to pose. And if you look at our stories, Hyun-su (main character) says this line where he says some monsters don't harm humans. You know, I don't think desires are all bad. And something that looks like a monster is not always all bad. So I tried to really incorporate those kinds of questions and thoughts into the story,” Lee said in Korean, as translated by the host of a Wednesday morning virtual conference.
The backdrop of the series is an old apartment complex called Green Home where all the characters reside.
Lee estimates the entire set is as big as 3,500 pounds, with just the indoor set measuring about 2,000 pounds. He says this is probably a record in Korea.
“I can't tell you the exact numbers, but it was indeed, quite grand. Because the series really takes place over 90% of it takes place on set. So we really needed something substantial. And to prepare for that, I went, our team went and saw a lot of different apartment buildings. We actually were able to find an apartment building that was built back in the 1930s,” he said.
The director regarded the setting as an entire character in itself.
“And seeing that building, we tried to feel sort of the desires, you know, we try to look for cues that could tell us about the desires of the human mind and body set. So these are some cues that we've hidden in the set as well. So hopefully you'll have fun finding them. It's almost as if the building itself is another star and a member of the cast.”
When it came to the monsters, Lee said that they tried their best not to deviate from the source material so as not to disappoint fans.
“So we tried to stay as loyal as possible to the monsters and reflect the desires that turned them into monsters,” he said.
“So for example, the Muscle Monster, he became a monster, you know, he tries to flex his muscles and show off his muscle. So that's how we made his emotions. And you know, he's always smiling because he wants to show off his body. And he tries to sort of suppress his feelings through a smile. This is kind of brutal, but we ripped the ends of his, the corners of his mouth, sort of to make him smile, so to speak, to make it more eerie. So I think those are some points that can be very interesting, and more horrific.”
The director also hit it out of the park on the casting.
“So you'll be able to see through everyone on the screen that we had a lot of fun shooting the series because everyone was so passionate to get this role. And I wanted to cast them as well so rather than talking about the casting process I think this was a very wonderful coincidence, how we came about together,” he said.
Lead actor Song Kang ("Love Alarm"), who plays the protagonist, turned out to be a coincidence.
“I have one of my junior directors who directed Love Alarm and he recommended that Song Kang take the auditions and I loved him. So, I think and since then, I came across all of these wonderful actors.”