Audiences fall in love with the ‘criminals’ in ‘Prison Playbook’
EVERYONE has their own sad stories, but prisoners may have the saddest stories of all.
On the tvN drama, ‘ Prison Playbook', producer Shin Wonho has turned the stories of how some criminals ended up behind bars into a multi-part series. One character is imprisoned under false accusations, and another is doing time for beating someone who attempted to rape his younger sister.
Throughout, Shin shows the humanity of the characters and the struggles they face, while also making an effort to not glorify them as criminals.
What makes the drama attractive is that each episode features a powerful plot twist. The show's excitement had drawn audiences, and as a result, the ratings have shot up from 5.6 per cent for the show's first episode to 9.4 per cent for last Thursday's episode. Another interesting element of the drama is the cast. Shin has attracted many relatively unknown actors to be a part of the show, including Park Hae- soo, who plays the main protagonist, others including Lee Kyoo-hyung, Jung Hae-in and Park Ho- san.The actors, mostly known for their roles on musical stages, have blossomed on television, thanks to the producer's discerning eye. Shin has already proved to be talented at discovering unknown talent as a producer on the channel's hit ‘Reply' series. In a recent interview with local media, Shin was asked his expectation of the show which has almost hit 10 per cent ratings.
“When we first planned for the show, for sure, we (the staff) hoped that many people would like the drama. However, because the topic of the story is related to a very unique space, prison, we wanted the show to be aired online, instead of on TV.
“So it wasn't the kind of content we expected to have very high ratings or to be popular across the country. Personally, I thought I might be satisfied if the result is similar to that of ‘ Reply 1997', which hit around 6 per cent.”
Responding to a next season of the show, Shin said, “I think things will be clearer when the current drama wraps up. We can't just create a new season because people liked it. We can only do it if there are more stories to tell.”
Replying to a question, Shin praised the chemistry between actors Park Ho- san and Lee Kyoo-hyung has made audiences really fallen in love with them.
“I am happy to see that the two are loved. They are really specialised in playing their characters - Park as the Mullae (neighbourhood in western Seoul) smartie with a lisp and Lee as the drug addict. The scriptwriters did a good job as well. I thought that it will be difficult for the audience to love the characters on this show as much as they loved the characters on the ‘ Reply' series, but thankfully, people have been quite receptive.”
Every character is lively. Are any of the characters inspired by real prisoners? Most memorable scene “I believe that even if you are as creative as possible, you cannot beat real stories. The power of real stories is strong. The stories I heard during interviews with those who have been in jail helped me a lot. Jang Ki- su's (Choi Moo- sung) story is one of the real ones.”
Have you thought about adding more of a love story to the show?
“Because the story takes place in prison, the plot cannot be devoted to romantic stories. We still try to portray the love through (the female characters) Kim Ji-ho (Jung Soo-jung) and Kim Je-hee ( Im Hwa-young.) The love story the two is especially heartbreaking due to Kim Jehyuk's ( Park Hae- soo) sudden imprisonment. Lee Jun-ho (Jung Kyung-ho) and Je-hee's story is quite sad too, as Je-hee goes through hard time and begins to think that Je-hyuk was imprisoned because of her (Jehee and Je-hyuk are siblings).
Regarding the inclusion of gay characters in the show ( Yu Han-yang [ Lee Kyoo-hyung] is gay, and there was a gay love story in the ‘ Reply' series as well ), Shin explained ,” Same sex love has become more accepted than it was in the past, and I don't think people feel uncomfortable to see these kinds of stories. As a storyteller, I want to tell something different to audiences.”
On the show, Professor Go (Jung Min- sung) was suddenly transferred to another prison. Does this often happen?
“Having a show that takes place in a prison, the most interesting thing is that there is no restriction on adding or removing characters. I did some research, and found out that transfers in prison are decided just one day before they happen. Since it takes place so quickly, I thought we could use it to create dramatic effect.
As for the most memorable scene for him, Shin said the most memorable is when Jang Baljang ( Kang Seung-yoon) visited Ki- su and said, “I am working hard to save money to get a house for you and me to live in.”