'I wondered if it was okay for us to laugh and chat about death': Girls' Generation's Choi Soo-young on her hospice drama If You Wish Upon Me

Girls' Generation's multi-talented idol Choi Soo-young first entered the K-drama scene with 2007's Unstoppable Marriage. Fifteen years on, her most recent role as a hospice nurse in the currently airing If You Wish Upon Me sees her put in a lot of thought into characterisation.

"Since it is a story that revolves around the topic of death, among all things, I probably put the most thought into my character's emotions," she said in a recent interview to AsiaOne. "I was worried since death could be a very heavy topic, so I wondered if it was okay for us to laugh and chat about it.

"However, the drama itself is a very warmhearted one that talks about hope."

She plays nurse Seo Yeon-joo in the drama based on the Ambulance Wish Foundation, which was founded in the Netherlands in 2006 to fulfil the wishes of terminally ill patients. Yoon Gyeo-rye, played by Ji Chang-wook, is a former inmate and orphan who is forced to do community service at the hospice.

Though Soo-young, 32, has acted in medical dramas before, particularly 2012's The 3rd Ward which saw her land her first leading role, she recognised that a hospital and a hospice are completely different. She turned to watching documentaries to help her prepare for her role.

"There are more documentaries about hospice wards than I thought there would be and I think I've seen almost all of them. They are different from the general medical documentaries I've seen before," Soo-young said.

"Since the drama is not about a hospital that saves lives, but a hospice for those spending their last moments in life, I drew references from those documentaries."

Yeon-joo is also fitness-obsessed, so Soo-young went to the gym to observe people's behaviour.

Being in a drama about granting wishes, she also mentioned that her own hopes for the future are to "get my body into a healthier state and take on the challenge of action scenes".

Soo-young considers her most memorable scene in If You Wish Upon Me to be the one where hospice staff and volunteers put on a musical, which appears in the third episode. Minor spoiler: There's a cute romantic moment between Yeon-joo and Gyeo-rye that viewers can look forward to.

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/Cho8l34LD5Q/[/embed]

"It's a warmhearted scene featuring a lot of cast members," she mentioned. "It also portrays the granting of wishes, so it's a memorable one."

Catch the Viu original If You Wish Upon Me on their streaming platform.

ALSO READ: 'I couldn't afford to slack off when I was younger': Ji Chang-wook on how things got better in showbiz for him

drimac@asiaone.com