Park Bo-gum poses for a picture before an interview at a Seoul cafe on Thursday. (Yoon Byung-chan/The Kpop Herald)

tvN “Reply 1988” star Park Bogum sat down with the Kpop Herald on Feb. 4 to talk about his life as an actor and a 22-year-old. Below is a transcript of his hour-long interview, filled with questions asked by the Kpop Herald readers in advance via email.

Q: How’s the real-life relationship between you and the other ‘Ssangmun-dong’ friends in the TV series?
(Asked by Faajae, Ida May, Anishaym, Joyce Ann San Pedro)

It was my fourth time working with Ko Kyung-pyo, so I feel the most comfortable with him. “Reply 1988” was of course a great opportunity to know more about him. Lee Dong-hui is as funny as his character in real life. Ryu Jun-yeol is exemplary to other actors, as he’s always trying to analyze his character and acting skills. I met Hyeri for the first time for the TV series, and she feels just like her character, Deoksun.

Q: When did you first realize you were Hyeri’s husband? How did you feel?
(Asked by Faajae, Ida May, Chintya Sanita, Aryska Aminah, Joyce Ann, Just@tien)

While Hyeri found out who the husband will be while shooting the 16th episode, I found it out when shooting the 19th episode. Because everyone’s script is different, someone gave me a wrong script by mistake and I accidently found it out before shooting the final episode. Not much information about the plot was given to the cast, because we found out that actress Lee Mi-yeon was playing Hyeri’s grown-up role only after watching the first episode.

Q: What did you feel when you first found out that Ryu Jun-yeol’s character is also in love with Hyeri’s character, Deoksun? And what do you think about the ending?
(Asked by Saranya Pong, Anishaym, Sasipat Dacha Akarapong, Joyce Ann San Pedro)

Ryu’s character Junghwan is really attractive, so I thought it was natural for Hyeri’s character to get married to Junghwan. After the kissing scene, Taek asks Deoksun if she remembers what happens last night and she says she went home and nothing happened. Like the viewers, I also thought kissing Deoksun was only a dream. But it turns out that Deoksun and Choi Taek did really kiss that night, and I was in utter shock.

Q: Do you see yourself in Choi Taek?
(Asked by Ev Kyu, Eky Ilmastuti, Saranya Pong)

I realized that I’m similar to my ‘Reply 1988’ character in real life. I’m like an iron fist in a velvet glove, just like Choi Taek in the TV series.
We’re very much alike in that we’re very focused on given tasks and I like drinking milk. If there’s a difference, I don’t play check-board as well as him (laugh).

Q: How was the kiss scene with Hyeri?
(Asked by: Ida May, Anishaym, Joyce Ann San Pedro)

When I was shooting a kiss scene with Hyeri, I was really nervous because it was the first on-screen kiss for both of us. I was shy too, but I pretended to be okay and tried to make Hyeri feel comfortable.

Q: Are there other roles that you wanted to try in “Reply 1988?”
(Asked by Ida May, Ev Kyu)

When I first auditioned for the drama, I didn’t think I was going to play Choi Taek. The director made me do lines of different roles similar to “Reply 1988” characters and told me that I’d do good in playing Taek. During the audition he made me act cursing on people, and I think he found that funny and thought of me as Choi Taek.

Q: What do you think about the ending?
(Asked by Joyce Ann San Pedro)

From the beginning of the TV series, I’ve always thought Hyeri should get married to a person she can be happy with. I felt bad from Junghwan’s perspective, because Ryu did so well in expressing Junghwan’s feelings.


By Suk Gee-hyun, Son Ji-hyoung (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com, json@heraldcorp.com)