The "Sweet Home" Director And Cast Members Share Thoughts On This Much-Awaited Creature Genre Series

We can't wait to step into the dystopian world of Green Home!

Grace Libero-Cruz

December 17, 2020, 06:06 PM

Human desires represented through monsters—this idea alone can easily pique the curiosity of even the most discerning K-drama fans. Netflix Original Series Sweet Home poses a tricky, intriguing question that will surely get viewers thinking: "Die as a human or live as a monster?" Sweet Home—the 10-episode series set to be released through Netflix in 190 countries tomorrow, December 18 at 4pm—is the newest must-watch horror/drama/creature genre K-drama.

It has been one of the most anticipated series of 2020, and it's easy to see why. There are several wow factors that make it worth binge-watching. First and foremost, the webtoon from which it was based on is widely popular with more than 500 million cumulative views; it was written by Kim Carnby, featuring illustrations by Hwang Young-chan. Then you have director Lee Eung-bok at its helm, the same man behind internationally-renowned K-dramas Mr. Sunshine, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, and Descendants of the Sun. These alone may be enough to convince one to immediately check out Sweet Home (hey, all episodes will drop on the 18th!), but if you need further convincing, the powerhouse cast and the over-the-top special effects are all you'll need to gear up for a horror-filled weekend.

Poster courtesy of Netflix

Sweet Home's cast members include Song Kang (Love Alarm), Lee Jin-wook (Voice 2 and 3, Return), Lee Si-young (Liver or Die, Risky Romance, The Guardians), Lee Do-hyun (Hotel del Luna, 18 Again), Kim Nam-hee (Search: WWW, Spring Turns to Spring, Mr. Sunshine), Go Min-si (Secret Boutique, Love Alarm), Park Gyu-young (It's Okay to Not be Okay, Nokdu Flower, Romance is a Bonus Book), Go Yoon-jung (The School Nurse Files, He is Psychometric), Kim Kap-soo (Hospital Playlist, Designated Survivor: 60 Days, Chief of Staff), and Kim Sang-ho (Alice, Nokdu Flower, Kingdom).

The story of Sweet Home starts with Cha Hyun-soo (Song Kang), a "life-loathing 18-year-old social recluse" who moves to an apartment complex called Green Home after the tragic death of his family. Sad, lonely, and desperate, he decides to commit suicide but even before he reaches the day he schedules to do so, one day, he wakes up with floating monsters around, ready to take on the entire humanity. These monsters come in various forms, mirroring dangerous human desires. As if that isn't horrifying enough to Hyun-soo, his neighbors also begin to undergo phases of "monsterization." He wants to end his life but, in a frightening survival of the fittest in this dystopian setting, ends up saving other people's lives. It is this irony that convinced Director Lee to work on this project that has a fresh and unique concept and genre which allowed him "to try new ways of expression."

Song Kang as Cha Hyun-soo in "Sweet Home" | Poster courtesy of Netflix

Also remarkable in this series are the special effects that are sure to elevate the viewing experience. To produce the scary monsters, Netflix and Director Lee formed a global dream team participated by Legacy Effects and Spectral Motion, the best FX studios in Hollywood, and Westworld, a top VFX studio in Korea.

The special effects in the series are definitely the top-notch elements that round up Sweet Home's surefire-hit combo. With the expertise of Westworld, Sweet Home becomes "the first to adopt virtual production system in Korea. Virtual production system allows a perfect reproduction of depth and movement of creatures," as explained by Westworld’s VFX supervisor Lee Byeong-ju.

The impressive visuals are complemented with equally excellent movements; top contemporary dancer Kim Seol-jin, who also played the role of the "lotus root monster," even choreographed the movement of these monsters, using animals living in nature as reference for creating what he calls the "instinctive movement to survive." Kim Seol-jin shares, "Unlike the usual movement of zombies and demons, I designed and specified the movement of each monster based on the different desires that turned them into monsters." Another incredible talent who's a part of Sweet Home is Troy James. Popular for his twisty contortionist moves in Australia's Got Talent and America’s Got Talent, he will surely impress with his role as a "spider monster."

The "Sweet Home" director and cast members at the series' virtual press conference

Check out the gallery below to see what Director Lee and the cast members had to say about Sweet Home and the characters during its virtual press conference held yesterday:

"Sweet Home" Virtual Press Con Highlights

By Metro.StyleSeptember 20 2023, 5:04 AM

Song Kang as Cha Hyun-Soo

Coming from another Netflix series, the lighthearted "Love Alarm," Song Kang said he put a lot of thought into bringing this character of an 18-year-old suicidal social recluse to life. He said, "I am a huge fan of the original webtoon. So, I was very excited to hear that I got the role. But I had to portray Hyun-soo and also the hallucinated version of him too. So I put a lot of thought into this. But then, I finally came to the conclusion that when expressing Hyun-soo I should be true to the most introverted side of me, the darkest inner self that I have within me. So I tried to stick to that and express it as best as I could." Director Lee appreciated this hard work, complementing the young actor, saying, "All the emotional scenes of Hyun-soo are so memorable to me. I liked how I could read his emotions in his eyes and facial expressions.”

Photo Credit: Netflix

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Lee Jin-Wook as Pyeon Sang-Wook

Director Lee said that Lee Jin-wook's character here is different from the ones he previously played, as he even underwent visual transformation through special effect makeup to complement his dark character. Director Lee said of Lee Jin-wook, “Unlike his previous gentlemen characters, we tried to portray a beast-like character with empty and sad eyes.” The actor agreed that his character is so different viewers won't be reminded of Lee Jin-wook. He said, "I prepared very thoroughly and try to show a completely different side of me. So I hope people don't notice that it's me."

Photo Credit: Netflix

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Lee Si-Young as Seo Yi-Kyeong

For Director Lee, Lee Si-young is the best Korean actress to portray the female warrior that is Seo Yi-kyeong, a former Special Forces soldier and a firefighter. Describing her character, Lee Si-young said, "She fights at the forefront and she makes very quick and clever decisions. She has very strong survival skills. She's a very courageous and brave character." To prepare herself for the action scenes, she did weight and martial arts trainings, and worked on toning her muscles as well. She added, "In the series, some parts of my body are exposed. Sometimes I'm only wearing my underwear so I thought that I really had to be fit because there was, I couldn't hide my body so I tried to work out as hard as I could."

Photo Credit: Netflix

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Lee Do-Hyun as Lee Eun-Hyuk

Lee Do-hyun, who's fresh from the recently-concluded well-received K-drama "18 Again," returns with a new series that features him as a cold-hearted, brainy medical student. Though fairly a rookie, Lee Do-hyun managed to impress Director Lee who thought that he did a great job at the reading audition and that he's very in sync with his character as Lee Eun-hyuk. The rising actor did agree with their similarity, pointing out that they're about 70% the same. On portraying this role, Lee Do-hyun said, "At first, I tried to express and exude the emotions whenever we were shooting the threatening, risky scenes. And so when the director said that Eun-hyuk should be rather calm and reserve his emotions quite a bit, after that I tried to keep my emotions inside and try and express them through my eyes."

Photo Credit: Netflix

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Kim Nam-Hee as Jeong Jae-Heon

Kim Nam-hee previously worked with Director Lee on the K-drama "Mr. Sunshine," wherein he portrayed the role of a villain. This time around, the personality that the director fleshed out from him is that of a good guy, specifically a Korean teacher and a devout Christian who's skilled in Kendo. "He fights against monsters using his sword and saves people," Kim Nam-hee shared. "As an actor, it was a very good opportunity to play both the bad role and the good role. So personally, I enjoyed it. And I love the character very much. I think there are two sides to every person. So I tried to portray that and the director helped me out a lot."

Photo Credit: Netflix

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Go Min-Si as Lee Eun-Yoo

Like Song Kang, Go Min-si was also a part of "Love Alarm," where she played the role of a popular girl at school named Park Gul-mi. Go Min-si said that her "Sweet Home" character Lee Eun-yoo is very different from what she previously played. Lee Eun-yoo, Lee Eun-hyuk's (Lee Do-hyun) younger sister, is a "sweet girl" who suffered an ankle injury and had to quit dancing. "Ever since then, she's kind of troubled. But after the monsters appear, she sees that Hyun-soo [Song Kang] is taken advantage of as a weapon. So she feels very frustrated. And this helps her grow into a more mature adult," Go Min-si said of her character.

Photo Credit: Netflix

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Park Gyu-Young as Yoon Ji-Soo

There seems to be no trace of Nam Joo-ri (her "It's Okay to Not be Okay" character) here. Park Gyu-young plays the role of Yoon Ji-soo, a bassist who puts on a happy façade to conceal her very painful past. "Her weapon of choice is a baseball bat. So she carries a baseball bat with her and teams up with Jae-heon [Kim Nam-hee] and tries to protect the people of Green Home," Park Gyu-young said. The actress shared that she's a fan of the original webtoon of "Sweet Home," and the fact that it's the only webtoon she read from start to finish says a lot about how compelling its story is. She shared, "I think one of the biggest aspects of it is that the monsters are created based on human desires, and I think that setup was extremely interesting and intriguing and I think that's what makes it special."

Photo Credit: Netflix

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Go Yoon-Jung as Park Yoo-Ri

This is the first time Go Yoon-jung is working on a series that's based on a webtoon, so she tried her best to express the pain and emotions of Park Yoo-ri as close to the webtoon character as possible. Park Yoo-ri is the caregiver of a pancreatic cancer patient (Kim Kap-soo). Go Yoon-jung said of her character, "She's his caregiver and since she's taking care of a terminally ill patient, she is kind of numb towards life and death. So even in this chaotic moments with all the monster attacks, she's very calm. And within the Green Home, whenever anybody is injured, she is in charge of treating them, and she uses the crossbow [as a weapon]."

Photo Credit: Netflix

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