[Exclusive]Park Gun-il "Judge Lee Han-young" Jisung Murderer ↔ "The First Man" Chef, there were many viewers who didn't recognize it when it was aired at the same time" [Interview 1]

*This content was translated by AI.

Actor Park Gun-il told the story of "Judge Lee Han-young."

Park Gun-il recently met with Star News and told the story of MBC's Friday-Saturday drama "Judge Lee Han-young" (played by Kim Kwang-min, director Lee Jae-jin, and Park Mi-yeon).

"Judge Lee Han-young" is a return-to-justice drama in which Lee Han-young, a deep-rooted judge who lived as a slave at a huge law firm and returned to 10 years ago, punishes major evil with a new choice. It is based on a work of the same name with 10.75 million views of the original web novel, 10.191 million views of the webtoon, and a total of 110 million views. Director Park Mi-yeon and writer Kim Kwang-min, as well as director Lee Jae-jin of "The Banker," "The Spy Who Loved Me," and "Motel California," joined forces.

Judge Lee Han-young, which opened MBC's Friday-Saturday drama in 2026, broke its own highest ratings in each episode and recorded a maximum viewership of 13.5% in the ninth episode on January 30. "Judge Lee Han-young" ended 14 times on the 14th amid enthusiastic responses from viewers, as it was evaluated as a "luxury genre" beyond a simple "court" as well as maintaining the No. 1 spot in the Friday-Saturday drama.

In the play, Ji Sung played the role of Lee Han-young, a "red-down judge" who claims to be a "humming judge" of a Haenal law firm because of his humble background and makes rulings that suit the taste of the law firm while pursuing the darkness of power. Park Hee-soon plays Kang Shin-jin, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, who shakes a Haenal law firm in his hand, and Won Jin-ah plays Kim Jin-ah, the prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, who is sharpening his sword for revenge against the man who drove his father to death.

Park Gun-il played a mysterious character as Kwak Soon-won, who killed Lee Han-young in his previous life as Kang Shin-jin's servant. Kang Shin-jin's plan to lower the sentence of Jang Tae-sik (played by Kim Beop-rae) of S Group by manipulating a Haenal law firm failed due to Lee Han-young's rebellion. Lee Han-young, who was falsely accused of killing the head of S Group in 2035, is stabbed in the neck by Kwak Soon-won after a desperate escape hiding in an underground tunnel.

Park Kun-il, a graduate of Dongguk University's theater imaging studies, debuted as a boy group Super Nova (formerly known as Supernova) in 2007 and moved between Korea and Japan, before working mainly as an actor. Park Kun-il made his acting debut as a child in his third year of middle school, and from SBS drama "Live Up Straight" in 2002, domestic dramas such as "Sangduya Let's Go to School," "Hon," "Geuncho High School King," "Sign," "Haeundae Lovers," and "Here We Go!" Jang Bo-ri, Engine ON from today, Romance 1 and 2 for 7 days, Love is annoying, but I don't like being lonely!', He appeared in "Kin Dae: The Generation," "Red Shoes," "Judge Lee Han-young," and "The First Man."

Park Kun-il has also appeared in domestic and international films such as "Mr. Housewives Quiz King," "Sunday Seoul," "Love Song to You (君にラヴソングを), "Our After School (僕たちのアフタースクール)," "Late Night Cafe: Missing Honey," and "It's a Fairy Tale but Blue Bull." He also appeared in the musical 'RUN TO YOU - Our Street Life', 'I Want to Write a Happy Ending', and the play 'Meet Me at 7' and was active in various fields.

-How do you feel about ending "Judge Lee Han Young"?

▶ As much as I had a hard time filming, I feel sorry for the broadcast to end. It was really hot last summer, so I had to take action fighting the heat. As I feel a lot of rewarding and receiving a lot of love, I feel proud and complicated.

-Judge Lee Han-young performed well at home and abroad. I didn't know that the work would be this successful.

▶ Previously, I enjoyed watching the original webtoon, so I had a good feeling when I said I was going to dramatize it. I imagined what would be different from the synchro rate of the original character, but it was so fun from the reading. I thought it would be so fun and it would work out. The director was so good, too. Judge Lee Han-young worked hard as hard as his job, with good people from the director to the youngest staff. It seems that good energy was gathered so that the heat was not bothered at all during the filming, and good results came out.

-What is the most memorable reaction from the viewers of "Judge Lee Han-young"?

▶A lot of people contacted me. The actor and director who I worked with contacted me and praised me for being 'strong and good'. The shorter it came out, the more I was able to pay attention and shake and miss to be good at one word, but I think I got it right this time. It seems that the flow of the points and videos I studied came out naturally. The timing of the airing of "Judge Lee Han-young" and "The First Man" overlapped, and some said they could not concentrate on the daily drama because of the role of "Judge Lee Han-young" as a murderer. (Laughs)

-What led you the most when you first received the script of "Judge Lee Han-young".

▶I looked forward to seeing how it would be different from the webtoon. I wondered how to implicitly include 100 original webtoons in the 14 episodes of the drama. In the original, Soon-won later killed both Lee Han-young and Kang Shin-jin, but the drama and the part were different. At the end of the show, the writer said to me, "I should have increased the amount more since I saw the edited version," and I was rather happy to hear that. In Han Young's past life and welfare, the nuances of Sunwon's killing should have been different, but the acting was not easy.

-What did the viewers particularly like about Judge Lee Han-young.

I think the subject of ▶ judge was very interesting. There was also a point where the story fits the current era. It seems that every Friday was sweet potato, but on Saturday, cider was given to make good use of the gwonseong jingak. The actors' passionate acting and the director's staff's attitude toward the work were also too active. I've been doing this work for a year since I auditioned, and what I felt while filming a month apart was that the atmosphere of this team was so good.

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*This content was translated by AI.