A spy family drama

THE new Korean spy comedy series directed by Jang Jeong-do Family: The Unbreakable Bond centres on Kwon Do-hoon (Jang Hyuk), a National Intelligence Service (NIS) agent for South Korea who leads a double life as both a spy and a family man in secret. Do-hoon has been able to conceal his profession from everyone, even his devoted wife Kang Yu-ra (Jang Na-ra).

The couple put in a lot of effort to maintain their ideal family, but Do-hoon is unaware that his homemaker wife also has her own secret.

During a recent virtual press conference, director Jang and the cast members shared some behind-the-scenes information about the show with theSun.

Family: The Unbreakable Bond, according to director Jang, is a tale about a family and also about the faith we place in those who are close to us. The concept for the series was originally inspired by a hypothetical family of three generations living together and asking whether they could still manage to keep the family together after learning each other’s secrets.

Describing their characters in the series, Jang Hyuk regarded the character in the series as a new challenge for him because one scene forced him to shave his eyebrows. He remarked that he put a lot of effort into that scene. His persona might first be rather perplexing, and the only way to fully comprehend him is to watch the series.

Everyone in her family loves and supports Jang Na-ra’s character completely, and they all have complete faith in her. She remarked: “I think I paid a lot of attention to my character’s facial expressions. She feels okay but always seems a little low on energy.”

“We can all maintain our high hopes for Jung-an’s action in the series”, Jang Hyuk reassured everyone while speaking of the action sequences. “The choreography was not easy.”

He described a scene from the series where he had to use some big movements within the tight space of an elevator. “And this small space captures the emotions of the character very well,” he said.

This series marks Jang Hyuk and Jang Na-ra’s fourth endeavour together since their last project nine years ago. They have long been admirers of director Jang.

According to him, the project just so happened to be ideal for them.

He added: “I was so grateful and happy that I got to work on this project with the actors that I respect so much. Their chemistry is so great that they didn’t have to say much to each other – simply by looking at each other, they could communicate.

“No single take took us more than two hours, and they had so many great ideas, so I didn’t even feel like I had to direct much. I thoroughly enjoyed the process.”

The filmmaker claimed that switching between humour and action was not easy. He spoke extensively with the cast and did his best to shoot the family scenes in a way that would allow viewers to unwind and let go of the tension that comes with daily living. Regarding the action scenes, the director preferred to create a continuity for that specific segment of the series rather than something that is realistically accurate.

The series, according to director Jang, focuses mainly on whether or not individuals can accept new information about those closest to them and how they respond to it. The mutual trust in a family in the comedy, not the intricate manoeuvres or operations, is what distinguishes the series from others.

Aside from the two leads, Chae Jung-an portrays Oh Chun-ryun, a highly competent, high level official who oversees the National Intelligence Service.

Oh’s character in this series is very unlike from the roles she has previously done. She said that in this specific role, she had developed into a person who had achieved success on her own.

She said: “Whenever we are filming, I always give it my all. My main goal for this [project] was to maintain my strength.”

Meanwhile, Kim Nam-hee plays Cho Tae-gu, a mysterious character in the series.

It is not surprising that people often question if Kim is portraying a villain whenever they see him on film. He claims that his character Tae-gu in this series also seems to be sending forth a bad feeling.

“No matter what I do, Tae-gu will appear to be a villain,” he remarked. “I thus made the decision to leave the character alone.”

The series required a lot of chemistry between the castmembers to work, and there was a fair bit of improvisation on the set.

Jang Hyuk responded that the series incorporates a number of different genres, when asked what one thing viewers should be on the lookout for. Although there are explanations for why their relationships became so complicated, the characters are quite complex. “This entails a lot of twists, one after another. After following the twists, the story ends before you know it,” he said.

Additionally, Jang Na-ra mentioned how enjoyable and unique the filming for this series was. She had the impression that she was continuously learning more about the world. “It was so challenging to portray all of that, but I’m sure audience will find this story to be like a well, which you keep finding yourself being drawn further into.”

Family: The Unbreakable Bond available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar, with new episodes released every Mondays and Tuesdays.