'It was surprisingly challenging': Lovely Runner's Kim Hye-yoon on cringey scene that went viral

She cried in every episode of the drama, but what she found tough to film was a comedic scene.

In an interview with AsiaOne, South Korean actress Kim Hye-yoon revealed how she felt filming the now-viral video of her doing a cringey song-and-dance in her recent hit drama Lovely Runner.

"It was surprisingly challenging, but looking back, it's become another valuable experience for me," she told us.

In the 16-episode series, which just wrapped up with its finale this week, Hye-yoon, 27, plays the female lead Im Sol, who time-travels to the past multiple times to save her favourite K-pop idol Ryu Sun-jae (played by Byeon Woo-seok).

In the viral scene, the future Sol returns to her high school days and is horrified to find out that her past self had filmed a cringey video declaring her love for her crush Kim Tae-sung (Song Geon-hee).

Hye-yoon continued: "I watched UCC (user-created content) videos from that time period first, so I could refer to them, and improvised my dance moves based on the choreography that was popular at the time."

In a recent interview on Salon Drip 2, she admitted that she cried a lot while shooting the scene: "I kept getting out of character and becoming myself, and I ran out of breath in the middle of filming."

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'An iron hand in a velvet glove'

At the beginning of the drama, Sol of the future is disabled and gets around in a wheelchair.

We asked Hye-yoon if she struggled while using the mobility device.

"I thought Sol wouldn't experience difficulties with a wheelchair and would feel familiar to have it as part of her life, so I made an effort to appear as proficient at using it as possible," she said.

"When I think of Sol, the phrase 'an iron hand in a velvet glove' comes to mind. I portrayed her as someone who may seem soft on the surface, but is actually a resilient friend."

She added that she chose to concentrate on portraying Sol's "inner world, narrative and emotions" instead of her disability.

Regarding the most difficult scene to film, Hye-yoon talked about the difference in seasons between the filming schedule and the drama's setting.

"There were scenes set in summer that we had to film in winter. It was a bit challenging because I had to endure the cold without showing that I was shivering or letting my breath become visible," she said.

Hye-yoon made her acting debut at the age of 17 in the 2013 drama Samsaengi.

She continued to take on supporting characters and guest appearances before having her breakout role in the hit 2018 series Sky Castle.

She rose to further fame after her first lead roles in Extraordinary You (2019), Secret Royal Inspector & Joy (2021) and The Girl on a Bulldozer (2022).

Lovely Runner is available on Viu.

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syarifahsn@asiaone.com

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