Seo In Guk and Park So Dam share how they prepared for their roles in 'Death's Game'
Loved Seo In Guk in Reply 1977 and Park So Dam in Parasite? The Korean actors are teaming up for Death's Game—a new reincarnation drama streaming on Prime Video.
The story centers on Seo In Guk as Choi Yee Jae, who decides to end his life after losing everything, including his significant other and his job. Death (played by Park So Dam), a cruel and heartless character, punishes him with a game that makes him reincarnate twelve times and experience twelve different lives. Yee Jae spends the rest of his life in one of those bodies and prevents their impending deaths as part of the activity.
In a roundtable interview attended by PhilSTAR L!fe, Seo In Guk recalled how he had to prepare for the intense emotions that his role needed him to express in front of the camera, which included a lot of practice and run-throughs of the script.
“I’m very loyal to the script. Also on set, we created a lot through conversations with the director and my co-star So Dam,” he said.
Park So Dam, for her part, said she made an effort to understand every feeling that Choi Yee Jae had in his conversations with Death.
“Because my character is not human, she doesn’t necessarily experience or express 100% all human emotions, but still she is receptive and responds to the emotions expressed through Choi Yee Jae. So I tried to focus on that,” she shared. "She’s also someone who provides Choi Yee Jae with 12 rounds of judgment, so I tried to focus on that process and the emotional arc of him and I going back and forth."
When asked what makes their roles in Death’s Game different from the ones they have portrayed in the past, Seo In Guk said, “All of the other characters I’ve played in my career were living in the now. I’d play characters that were living the day to day events–sometimes, they were extreme events–but still, it happened within your everyday life.”
“However, this character goes through the afterlife. He goes through 12 different lives in 12 different bodies and he becomes someone who yearns for life. So while I was able to portray a wide range of emotions up to now, it was even more so, more extreme, this time around.” the actor continued.
Park So Dam, meanwhile, noted that that this is not her first non-human character as she had multiple evil spirits live inside her in The Priests and a play titled Let Me In.
“But, it is the first non-human role that teaches and enlightens a human being. And Death is a vessel for Yee-jae to learn a lesson and makes him learn and provides help. So I’d say in that sense, this is the first type of character I’ve portrayed,” Park So Dam said.
Aside from Seo In Guk and Park So Dam, the star-studded series is also top billed by other beloved Korean actors like Kim Ji Hoon (The Flower of Evil), Lee Jae Wook and Go Yoon Jung (Alchemy of Souls), Choi Si Won (Love is for Suckers), Lee Do Hyun (The Glory), Jang Seung Jo (The Good Detective), Kim Jae Wook (Her Private Life), Oh Jung Se (Revenant), Sung Hoon (Woori the Virgin), Kim Kang Hoon (Racket Boys), Nam Kyung Eup (Yaksha: Ruthless Operation), and Yoo In Soo (All of Us Are Dead).
This popular webtoon of the same name is written and directed by Ha-Byung Hoon, who was also behind 18 Again and Go Back Couple.
Death's Game has been at the top spot of Prime Video's most-watched shows in the Philippines since its release on Dec. 15. The remaining episodes will be available on Jan. 5. Watch the trailer below.