Park Bo Young reveals how she grew closer to Park Hyung Sik and Ji Soo

Says her two male co-stars are quite similar to their fictional counterparts.

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon cast
Park Hyung-sik, Park Bo-young and Ji-soo in a promotional photo for 'Strong Woman Do Bong Soon.' facebook.com/JTBC Drama

In the early episodes of 'Strong Woman Do Bong Soon' there was a palpable tension between Park Hyung-sik's Ahn Min-hyuk and Ji Soo's Gook-du for Do Bong-soon's affections. The rivalry eventually dissipated as it became clear Ahn Min-hyuk and Do Bong-soon were meant to be together.

However, to make all the subtle nuances of their interpersonal equations convincing, the actors had to become comfortable with each other first. They found an interesting way to do that.

In a recent interview, notes Soompi, Park Bo-young revealed that the three leading actors of 'Strong Woman Do Bong Soon' used a group chat to get to know each other better and grow closer. Park Bo-young was concerned by the fact that her male co-stars were both younger than her. In the past, her male co-stars were generally older. However, her concerns were misplaced as the two younger actors took good care of her. And they became really comfortable with one another through group chat.

"We made the group chat so we could become closer more quickly but it's funny because Park Hyung Sik and Ji Soo have such different patterns of speech," Park Bo-young said. The chat group was limited to the three of them. Bo-young also revealed how Hyung-sik and Ji Soo are quite similar to their screen-characters in the JTBC drama.

"Park Hyung Sik was really casual in the way he spoke to me while Ji Soo was really like his character In Guk Doo [in that he was very formal and sincere in the way he spoke to me]. It got to a point where I told him to stop being so nice," Bo-young said. However, when it came to making the lead actress feel comfortable, both actors were there for the lead star.

"They both took care of me really well. Park Hyung Sik is like Ahn Min Hyuk in that he is very playful and bright. Sometimes I wondered if it was even possible for someone to be as bright as he is. He created a great atmosphere for filming when he was on set. Ji Soo is both clumsy and very serious, which is a very amusing combination," Bo-young recalled.

Park Bo-young was nominated as Best Actress in a Drama for 'Strong Woman Do Bong Soon' at the 2017 Baeksang Arts Awards but lost out to Seo Hyun-jin for her incredible performance in 'Oh Hae-young Again.' Other nominees in the category were Kim Go-eun for 'Goblin,' Park Shin-hye for 'Doctor Crush' and Kim Haneul for 'On the Way to the Airport.'

This article was first published on May 5, 2017