IU And Park Bo-Gum Praise The Love In ‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’

The title of the new Korean drama When Life Gives You Tangerines, a play on the expression “when life gives you lemons,” refers to one of Jeju Island’s prime crops: tangerines. While the title may allude to the idea that people must sometimes work with what they’re given, none of the ingredients for this drama are random. The story brings together a successful director, an award-winning writer and two talented Korean actors to create a rare and engaging drama.

Director Kim Won-suk is known for some of Korean TV’s most critically acclaimed dramas, My Mister, Signal and Misaeng: An Incomplete Life. Writer Lim Chang-soon won a Baeksang Arts Award for best screenplay for her previous hit drama When The Camellia Blooms. The drama stars singer-songwriter/actress IU aka Lee Ji-eun and actor Park Bo-gum. Neither actor hesitated when offered the chance to appear in a Kim Won-suk drama. IU previously starred in his 2018 award-winning story My Mister.

“The first thing that came to mind was that I want to work with him again no matter what,” said IU. “But I would say a very, very small part of me inside, I did feel a little sense of fear, but all in all, I wanted to work with him again.”

“I was willing to go into it right away,” said Park.

The story of When Life Gives You Tangerines spans several decades, following Ae-sun, a girl whose dreams of becoming a poet are limited by her family’s poverty, and Gwan-sik, the friend who has loved her for as long as he can remember. He vows to support her, even if it means years of backbreaking work and standing up to his disapproving family. IU found it easy to identify with Ae-sun’s creative drive and determination.

“Ae-sun is a character who loves poetry, who loves literature, she loves to both write and read,” said IU. “That’s something that I share as well in real life. And even outside of that, there’s just so much that I share with her in terms of personality, except for the one detail being that she cries a lot and that’s not what I’m like in real life.”

The actors have developed some criteria for choosing roles. Park, who appeared in the dramas Record of Youth and Entourage and the film Seo Bok, first considers whether he can relate to the character he might play.“I try to ask myself, am I able to truly understand and relate to this character or this story,” said Park. “I’m also drawn to projects that have a very clear, heartwarming message. While you work on a role, I think when it comes to the profession of an actor, we are always able to learn from every role that we take on.”

Since his character lived on Jeju island, he was able to learn some of the Jeju dialect. “Also because he is someone training as a professional athlete, I was able to also learn that aspect physically too. So I think as an actor, I experience a lot of learning and lessons, whether it’s about the character or the occupation of being an actor itself. I just learn a lot from every role that I take on.”

IU, who starred in the series Hotel Del Luna and Moon Lovers/Scarlet Heart Ryeo, as well as the film Broker, likes roles that challenge her.

“I think when it comes to selecting my projects, for me it’s really all about does it light a fire inside me,” she said. “Does it make me want to take on the challenge? It’s hard to pinpoint what particular details make that happen, but I think I approach it more intuitively, where I think to myself, after reading a script, does it make my heart beat?”

She describes the process as “almost instinctive.”

“As for the things that I learn about myself, throughout my acting career,”she said. “I think I really learned the wide range of human emotions because when I was younger, I wasn’t the most expressive person when it comes to the emotional range. However, throughout my acting and also being on stage, I think with each project I become someone who becomes more expressive. With each character they tend to rub off on me in real life. So while it’s been quite a while since we wrapped When Life Gives You Tangerines, I’m still in that stage where I’m a little bit closer to my character.”

While working together the stars also learned something about each other.

“For me, watching Bo-gum I learned that you have to be kind to others,” said IU. “Because he is someone who is just so mature and he’s a good person to everybody. I used to think that’s not possible. To younger people he’s such a great adult. To those who are more experienced, he’s such a good junior. To me, he’s such a great friend and partner. And so I learned from him and watching him, I learned about him that it’s possible to be a good person to everybody you meet, to witness that, having thought that that’s a very difficult, if not impossible thing to do, it was truly incredible.”

Park also had kind words for his co-star.

“IU is not only an actor, she’s also a musician,” he said. “And so the sheer amount of passion that she has for both crafts was just truly astounding to see and witness, and also to see her prepare for her concerts while we were shooting the series, I was in awe of how she was able to do that when she was given this huge task of bringing to life the character Ae-sun, who has to portray a roller coaster of different emotions. While doing that, she was also leaning into her huge love of her fans and preparing for this concert. Just watching her do both of those things, I learned a lot from her. It’s not just that she has a huge love of her fans, but she has so much love for the crew and staff and everybody that works on set, and also for her cast members too. She’s so generous to everybody in that way. Even though we are the same age, I feel like there’s just so much that I can learn from her. The fact that she has such a big heart, and both as an artist, as a partner, and as a friend. There’s just so much that I was able to learn from her.”

According to the actors, what makes this drama special is the enduring love between the main characters. It’s a love story, but it’s less about falling in love than it is about staying in love.

“While there’s that romantic love aspect to it, there’s also that strong undying love that happens between human to human as just human beings sharing their lives together,” said IU. “They rely on each other and depend on each other, and they’re each other’s biggest support. We all dream of love like that, where it’s undying. It’s hard to find that in real life. When you look at the essence of her life, while it is indeed filled with a lot of hardship and pain, because she has this undying love and this dependable life partner, it almost feels like life is fair. In fact, that’s how big of a presence I think Gwan-sik is to Ae-sun”

Park is not sure there has ever been another drama that showcases a couple like this one.

“Gwan-sik is someone who really expresses the truest sense of love in the form of agape love because it’s not just his love for his partner Ae-sun,” he said. “He has so much love and loyalty for everyone around him and of course his children as well. So I went into it thinking that I hope people can see this character and feel comforted and feel supported in real life too. I also went into it thinking I want to become a man like Gwan-sik and I think its because of his nature that their love in the story was able to persist.”

The lovers face many obstacles in life, from poverty to prejudice to their own insecurities and disappointments. It takes years before Gwan-sik can convince Ae-sun to consider him romantically. And in one cinematic scene among Jeju’s flowering canola fields he finally kisses her. It’s so awkward it seems as if they might collide and hurt each other. Fortunately, it’s just the beginning of a life together.

“It’s a moment that these two characters have dreamt of for such a long time,” said Park. “And because of course it’s young love and it’s the first kiss, they are so rigid and nervous to the point where it looks like they’re going to break their bones, especially with their clenched fists. I would say that the kiss is not so much a kiss, maybe it’s almost like a peck that they share. I remember us making the scene even more awkward than the degree that it was written in the script. I think it was right for us to bring even more tense and awkward nervous energy to that because this is the moment that both of them have been waiting for 17 or 18 years of their lives.”

As the drama’s storyline spans decades the actors successfully convey the passage of time, demonstrating their growing maturity with physical mannerisms, changing the way they move, the depth of their expressions, the tone of their voices. Together they fashion a one-of-a-kind tale of lasting love and endurance that’s set against the beautiful vistas of Korea’s most famous island. The uniquely endearing Netflix drama is a sweet gift for viewers.

When Life Gives You Tangerines, which also stars Moon So-ri and Park Hae-joon, will release four of its 16 episodes each subsequent week

This story was originally published in Forbes.com.