ENA drama ranks second all-time... 'Scarecrow' director and writer: "Didn't expect a hit; scheduling was difficult" [Interview ①]

*This content was translated by AI.

• Interview with Park Jun-woo PD, director of the ENA Monday-Tuesday drama 'Scarecrow', which concluded on the 26th, and writer Lee Ji-hyun

PD Park Jun-woo and writer Lee Ji-hyun of 'Scarecrow' shared their reflections on achieving a successful conclusion by capturing both artistic merit and public buzz.

On the afternoon of the 27th, a wrap-up interview with PD Park Jun-woo and writer Lee Ji-hyun of the ENA Monday-Tuesday drama 'Scarecrow', which concluded the previous day, was held at a café in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

'Scarecrow' is a crime thriller drama about a detective investigating a serial murder case who unexpectedly forms an alliance with someone he despises, inspired by the Lee Chun-jae serial murder case.

Park Jun-woo PD, known for directing SBS programs 'That Was the Question' and 'Curious Story Y' and dramas 'Exemplary Taxi' and 'Doctor Detective', took on directing duties, while writer Lee Ji-hyun, who wrote the first season of 'Exemplary Taxi', returned to pen the script, reuniting once again.

Actor Park Hae-soo played detective Kang Tae-ju, who was transferred to his hometown of Gangseong and assigned to the serial murder case; Lee Hee-jun portrayed prosecutor Cha Si-young, an elite with sharp judgment and political acumen; and Kwak Sun-young played Seo Ji-won, a righteous reporter at Gangseong Ilbo and Kang Tae-ju's elementary school classmate.

Thanks to solid direction, a compelling script, and outstanding performances by the cast, the final episode achieved a viewership rating of 8.1% (based on Nielsen Korea's paid households nationwide). This marks the second-highest viewership rating in ENA's history, following 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo'.

On the day, PD Park said, "It's great and I'm grateful that the work received such a positive response from the perspective of the director." He added, "I've been making heavy, socially relevant works, and while not intentional, I think I have a tendency to favor that kind of content. The relationships between characters were entirely the writer's idea."

The writer said, "I'm happy that the drama ended well, but at the same time, I feel a bit bittersweet."

Regarding the successful conclusion amidst praise and strong viewership, PD Park stated, "I was very worried because my previous work didn't do well, and many people around me were concerned. From the latter half of episode 7, when the true culprit is revealed, I worried that we might be betraying the viewers, which made it burdensome to engage them in the early episodes. To capture the audience early on, we laid out a lot of genre elements."

He continued, "I also worried that focusing on finding the culprit might obscure the core message, and I debated how much information to reveal. However, I am grateful that viewers enjoyed the drama by considering various possibilities, and I'm truly relieved and thankful that the ratings turned out well. I hope this becomes a catalyst for more dramas of this kind."

Additionally, 'Scarecrow' naturally evokes memories of the film 'Memories of Murder'. On this, PD Park remarked, "The film has undoubtedly established itself as an outstanding masterpiece. Moreover, it was directed by Bong Joon-ho. Planning this drama was not easy. When we asked the production company for more funding, they said it was impossible and rejected us. Initially, we thought the heavy and sad content would make scheduling difficult. I believed we could tell this story from a different perspective."

The writer smiled and said, "The ratings were strong from the first episode and kept climbing, which was truly great but also burdensome. I did have some worries."

In response to the writer's answer, PD Park expressed his trust in her, saying, "She is truly a writer who is a pleasure to work with. She is usually very gentle and easygoing, but she writes villain lines exceptionally well. Although she wants to write youth coming-of-age stories and rom-coms, I think she will continue to work on genre dramas."

In a witty reply, the writer said, "I have a youth coming-of-age story in preparation, but nothing is confirmed yet. In fact, I think I write genre scripts quite well. I also delivered the script to PD Park in a timely manner."

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*This content was translated by AI.