Shin Hyun Bin: “Moon Sang Min’s charm is his watery eyes.” “Just one?” Moon Sang Min pouts
The Korean drama “Cinderella at 2am” was released on the video streaming service FOD operated by Fuji Television from 9pm on Saturday, August 24th, at the same time as it was released in Korea. A drama event was held at the Hulic Hall Tokyo on Friday, September 6th.
(From left) Shin Hyun-bin, Moon Sang-min (C) Coupang Corp.
The drama “Cinderella at 2am” is a romantic comedy about Ha Yoon-seo, an ultra-realist who decides to break up with her younger boyfriend from a wealthy family, and Seo Joo-won, a romantic heir to a wealthy family who tries to win back her heart.
“Do I need to give up my pride to fall in love?” Yoon-seo, a career woman who values self-preservation above all else, and Juwon, a third-generation chaebol man who believes that protecting love is protecting himself, have been dating for a year and a half. However, Juwon’s mother opposes their relationship due to the difference in their family backgrounds, and Yoon-seo accepts severance pay to make Juwon hate her and decides to break up. However, Juwon says, “I’ll break up with you, but I’m free to stalk you!” The relationship that she thought was over takes an unexpected turn. Even though Yoon-seo keeps her cool, the touch of his hand can make her decision waver. A thrilling reverse romance that feels like starting over from the beginning of their relationship begins.
700 drama fans were invited to the event, which was selected by lottery. The main cast, Shin Hyun Bin and Moon Sang Min, appeared on stage.
The two of them appeared on stage holding hands. The event started with a photo time. They were waving, making heart shapes with both hands, and occasionally looking at each other and smiling. It was so adorable that the audience was immediately smiling as well.
In the first greeting, Shin Hyun Bin prefaced by saying, “I practiced (greetings) in Japanese, but I don’t know if I can do it well,” and then said, “Good evening. I’m Shin Hyun Bin. I’m happy to meet you,” demonstrating his beautiful pronunciation in Japanese. “I’m grateful that so many people have filled the seats, and it’s strange and I’m very nervous right now. This is my first time in Japan for work, but I’ve been to Japan many times for travel. A few months ago I went to Hokkaido and visited many places.” Moon Sang Min also greeted, “Hello. I’m Moon Sang Min,” and then, looking at the cue card written on his palm, he said in Japanese, “I’m happy to meet you all today.” “This is my first event, and I’ve been to Osaka once on a family trip. I’m very happy to be able to spend my first time in Tokyo with my fans,” he said with emotion, and the venue was filled with voices of “cute!” from all over the venue at his fresh appearance.
(From left) Moon Sang-min, Shin Hyun-bin (C) Coupang Corp.
The two’s double appearance was already a hot topic even before the series aired. When asked about their impressions of working together, Shin Hyun Bin said, “I have many memories of having fun filming together. I think that feeling of fun can be felt from the work. (Moon Sang Min) is a partner I am grateful for.” Moon Sang Min also expressed his gratitude to his senior, saying, “I am a fan of Hyun Bin and have seen many of his works. The time we spent together was refreshing, and thanks to him leading as a senior, we were able to complete filming safely.”
When asked about the degree of synchronization with the characters, Shin Hyun Bin answered, “My synchronization with Yoon Seo is about 40 to 50%. We are similar in that we love our work, are passionate about it, have a sense of responsibility, and we both like to eat.” Moon Sang Min responded, “I’m a romantic like Joo Won, but I’m not from a wealthy family,” drawing laughter from the audience.
Shin Hyun-bin (C) Coupang Corp.
Next up was a segment where participants watched four digest videos edited for the event and discussed each scene.
The first video was from episode 1. The scene where Yoon-seo received severance pay from Joo-won’s mother and promised to break up with Joo-won, and the scene where Yoon-seo found out that Joo-won was the youngest son of a wealthy family were shown. When asked, “What would you do if you were in the same situation as Yoon-seo?”, Shin Hyun-bin said, “I would be scared to receive the money and I don’t have the confidence to promise to break up. I would probably suffer alone forever, unable to say the words “let’s break up”. I wondered how Yoon-seo was able to come to such a clear conclusion.” In response to Shin Hyun-bin, Moon Sang-min pretended to be upset and said, “I was very disappointed in the scene where Yoon-seo gave my (Joo-won’s) mother her account number. How could she do that?” Shin Hyun-bin responded, “It was written in the script from the first page! You knew the fact from the stage of deciding to appear in the film, and you’re still saying that?”, which left him devastated. The interaction between the two “older women” and “younger man” was like an extension of a TV drama, and it was a sight that made me smile.
The second video was the “drinking party at the izakaya” scene, depicting the moment Joo Won fell in love. Moon Sang Min looked back on that time, saying, “During filming, Hyun Bin snatched my glass and drank it all in one go. He looked really cool and made my heart flutter.” Shin Hyun Bin shared behind-the-scenes footage, saying, “Originally, the scene was about me sitting on a chair and asking, ‘Please pour me a drink,’ but I wanted to look a little cooler, so I came up with an idea on set.” He also shared an episode of his interactions with his co-stars, saying, “All the co-stars got along well, and we chatted whenever we had free time during filming. The director would often tell us, ‘Be quiet. We’re filming.’ Even now, we talk together and make plans to meet up every time an episode is released.”
Moon Sang-min (C) Coupang Corp.
When asked about his role, Moon Sang-min explained, “Joo Won is a younger man, but I didn’t want to make him look too childish, so I tried to show his masculinity amid his cuteness. I left the humorous scenes to the atmosphere. With the help of my co-stars Hyun Bin and Yoon Park, I was able to film well. My homework was to convince the viewers of the process of him changing from a new employee to the head of the department. Each episode developed quickly, so I thought about what changes I should make, so I put my bangs up and changed my suit to a three-piece suit. The scene where I appear in front of Yoon-seo as the head of the department and declare war on her was particularly nerve-wracking in terms of my acting.”
Shin Hyun Bin, who played Yoon-seo, a girl who finds herself in a situation where she “doesn’t want to break up but has to,” talked about the difficulties of acting, saying, “I tried to strike a balance between feelings of love and feelings of distance so that viewers would be able to understand Yoon-seo’s words and actions.”
Regarding the “eating” scene that followed, Shin Hyun Bin said, “Because there was a lot of food, we shot it over several days. There were some dishes that we shot but didn’t fit into the main story. The eating scenes take a long time, but everything was delicious so I enjoyed filming them.” Among the scenes that were cut was one in which they ate sushi and sashimi, and Moon Sang Min said, “It was so delicious that it’s memorable.”
The fourth video is the scene where Joo Won kisses Yoon Seo, who is drunk and blurts out her true feelings. Moon Sang Min, who watched the video, said with a puzzled look, “After I looked into Yoon Seo’s eyes, I dropped my gaze to her lips, and then we kissed, but for some reason my lips were moving. Why did I move my mouth?” Please check out the video to find out the scene you are interested in.
At the end of the talk, they revealed what to look forward to from episode 4 onwards. Moon Sang-min explained, “A new character will appear in episode 4. I want you to watch the love triangle with the mysterious person, the incidents that occur due to his appearance, and Joo-won’s jealousy points.” Shin Hyun-bin said, “There will be a dynamic development at the beginning of episode 5. After everything is over, what will happen to the relationship between the two people whose secret romance has been revealed to those around them? I think it will be fun to watch when and how they get back together,” raising expectations.
Next came the “Ask Me Anything! Q&A Corner,” where they answered questions from the audience and granted their wishes. When the question “What are each other’s charm points?” was chosen, Moon Sangmin looked into Shin Hyunbin’s eyes and said with a killer smile, “Your dimples when you laugh are cute.” Shin Hyunbin replied, “Sangmin’s charm is your watery eyes,” to which Moon Sangmin asked, “Just one?” His sulking face was adorable. Next, Moon Sangmin was asked to call us (in the audience) ‘chagiya (baby)’. In his characteristic low voice, Moon Sangmin whispered “chagiya,” “chagiya,” “chagiya” three times, eliciting screams of cheers from the audience.
(From left) Masayuki Furuya, Moon Sangmin (C) Coupang Corp.
The last part was a plan to recreate an impressive scene with the audience selected by lottery. The first task was the scene where Joo Won ran up to Yoon So and offered her sandals. When the winner came on stage, Moon Sang Min transformed into a director and gave the winner a difficult (?) instruction: “Come out from the wings of the stage out of breath.” When the winner acted, Shin Hyun Bin praised him, saying, “You were very good, you showed the excitement.” The next task was a scene where Joo Won said, “You’re cute. Yoon So,” and stroked Yoon So’s head. Moon Sang Min, who was to act with the winner, replaced the “Yoon So” part of his lines with the winner’s name, and acted with a godlike response that thrilled not only the winner but also the audience. However, director Shin Hyun Bin criticized the performance, saying, “The winner was very good. But I’m a little disappointed with Sang Min. He seemed to be more concerned about himself than the other person.” Moon Sang-min suggested a rematch, saying, “I did my best, but it seems the director wasn’t happy with it (laughs), so I’d like to do it again,” and invited a new audience member onto the stage. This time, not only did he change the name of the line, but he also gave the audience a back hug! This unexpected additional performance created a lot of excitement.
Finally, Shin Hyun Bin said, “Thank you for taking out your valuable time to spend with us. I’m sure you’ve all watched up to episode 4, but the story from here on out is even more fun, so please look forward to it. And please spread the word to your friends and family. Please enjoy watching until the end, everyone.” Moon Sang Min concluded the hour and a half event with these messages to the audience, saying, “I was happy to be able to spend our first promotion in Japan with our fans. When I first came out on stage and saw all your faces, something welled up inside me. I was so happy. I hope to see you all again. Please continue to send lots of love to me and Hyun Bin. See you again.”
“Cinderella at 2am” (C) Coupang Corp.
【story】
Realistic Yoon-seo decides to break up with her younger boyfriend of a year and a half, Joo-won, after she finds out he is the son of a wealthy family. Yoon-seo even receives severance pay from his mother and deliberately acts in a way that will make him dislike her in order to break up with her. However, Joo-won continues to approach her regardless. What will become of the love between the cool girl who chooses money over love and the romantic boy who tries to protect his love like in a fairy tale?
◇ Program Overview
■ Title: “Cinderella at 2am” (10 episodes)
■ Distribution: Distribution starts on Saturday, August 24, 2024
The latest episode is released every Saturday and Sunday at 9pm
*Schedule is subject to change without notice.
Please be aware of this.
Cast: Shin Hyun-bin, Moon Sang-min, Yoon Bak, Park Seo-jin
■Staff: Director: Seo Min-jung, Bae Hee-young
Screenwriter: Oh Eun-ji
Creator: Park Junhwa
■URL:https://fod.fujitv.co.jp/title/00on(Distribution page)
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